To be blunt, Kakashi seemed overly enthusiastic about your training, insisting that he taught you personally, without the interference of leading a team. The rest of Team 7 was sent on joint missions with Team 8, which Kakashi barred you from participating.

“Your training is important,” he had said, when you had complained to him.

You weren’t sure what to be expected, but it was certainly not this. Kakashi made you run laps around the village by an ever increasing amount. You had thought he was going to teach you lightning style, not sign you up for the Konoha Sports Festival.

But you dared not whine, fearing that he would decide that you weren’t worth the trouble to train anymore. You ran uncomplainingly through heavy rain, high winds, and as the sun beat down on your back. Kakashi watched sometimes, but you had the feeling he was spending more time with his eyes on the book than on you. The muscles in your legs strengthened considerably, but your sensei didn’t seem at all satisfied.

You had no idea what he wanted. You were faster, stronger, and could run longer distances than you could ever before. What else did he hope to achieve?

On the morning of the third week, he came to see you with a pair strange apparatuses slung over his back. You eyed them suspiciously.

“I went to Gai for these,” Kakashi announced, patting them appreciatively. “Here’s a pair of Rock Lee’s old ankle weights. Sorry they’re second-hand.” They were worn, fraying around the edges. You could barely make out the words stamped on each segment – konjo, guts.

The fourth week, he handed you a set of arm weights, and the fifth, one to wrap around your waist. All this time, Kakashi never told you what this extra load was going to accomplish, expecting you to do as you were told without protest. Which was exactly what you did.

Finally, on the morning of the sixth week, he took them all back and sat you down for a talk.

“I still haven’t forgotten my promise,” he said seriously, “But there’s a reason why I don’t teach this jutsu very lightly.”

You felt your pulse quickening in excitement. Finally.

Kakashi glanced around the clearing of the third training ground and pointed one finger at the thick trunk of a tree about seventy-five metres from where you stood. “Watch…and learn.”

He made to perform a series of hand seals and gripped his right wrist with the other hand. A flash of electrical discharge appeared in his palm, illuminating the training ground with eerie, bluish light. It grew into a luminous orb about the size of his fist, pulsating with energy. Even the area around him was glowing, a ring of chakra that surrounded your sensei like an aura. He stretched out his arm, the lightning emitting a loud crackling noise as he shifted so that he was facing the tree he had pointed out earlier.

He flew at it, his timing precise, his speed remarkable. “Chidori…!”

You watched in awe as his jutsu smashed an impressive, ragged hole into the trunk, leaving charred and smoking remains scattered all over the ground. The intense light of Kakashi’s Chidori died down and faded from his hands, and he turned back to you.

“This is what we’ve been working towards all along.”

He didn’t let you start right away.

There was no more running; he said that you had perfected that part of the technique well enough. Kakashi cautioned that it would take a large amount of chakra to be able to perform the jutsu.

“It might be more than you can handle,” he warned you. “You might not even have enough chakra to do it.” He almost wondered why he bothered contributing so much time to your training if it just might end up killing you. Worse yet, it might not even work properly after you learned the technique. Minato-sensei had warned him that the speed at which the Chidori worked was too easy to counter. Was he doing the right thing, teaching this to you?

“No problem!” you said cheerfully, oblivious to your sensei’s inner misgivings. Your thoughts were on the chance that he would pass you if you mastered the Chidori. No way were you going back to the Academy. You were going to give this training all you’ve got.

It was by your own choice that you decided to spend a few weeks trying to master your chakra control. Kakashi suggested you practise the tree climbing practise, something that you struggled with initially. He was a teacher that valued initiative, and watched you try without offering any advice of his own.

He noted that your chakra levels were slightly above average, but it wasn’t enough. As you began to lose your footing less and less frequently, he suggested you try walking on water as a means to improve your chakra control further.

For the most part, the exercise wasn’t difficult to master after practise with climbing trees with chakra. Having to adjust the amount of chakra almost constantly proved to be more of an inconvenience rather than a hindrance. In due time, there was a steady and noticeable improvement in your general ninjutsu skills as well.

After over two months of working on the skills leading towards Chidori, Kakashi finally decided that you were ready to try it out.

Channelling lightning chakra was not an easy task. Converting it called for increasing its frequency, and maintaining it consumed chakra at an alarming rate. The first time it actually worked for you, you passed out due to the sudden and severe drain in energy.

Kakashi wouldn’t give up on you though. After you recovered enough, he ordered you to try again.

“It happens to everyone,” he lied calmly. “It’s normal.”

So you kept trying.

He didn’t understand why you were so dedicated. He didn’t understand why he was so dedicated. But one thing was for sure – he was going to make an exceptional ninja out of you.

…was it the bond of a sensei and student, fortified by Kakashi’s interest in your sharing many similarities with him? Go to Chapter 103.

Or was it something more? For both of you? ♥ Go to Chapter 104.