Secrets (Kakashi x Reader)

Chapter 1

"You all fail."

I smirked from where I sat perched in a tree. It had been obvious that this group was going to fail, they had barely known each other's names let alone how to work as a team.

A part of me felt bad for the students, I could tell they wanted to become genins. But I knew they didn't live up to the standards of the sensei they had been paired with.

As their sensei started in on a lecture about teamwork, I leaned even more into the tree and studied the sensei. Kakashi Hatake.

I had known of the silver-haired ninja for most of my life, through people gossiping about him and occasionally catching glimpses of him around the village. Then he started to be known as one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi, and it became impossible to not know who he was when I myself had aspirations to be a powerful ninja.

After I graduated from the academy and became a genin at age 11, I passed the chuunin exams right away. I had high hopes that I would fulfill all my goals quickly, but I've been stuck as a chuunin for years now. It was a little frustrating actually.

When I was little, I developed three goals for my career as a ninja, and have been working towards them ever since.

1. Become a jounin. It's kept me motivated to work hard, training myself to become skilled all around. I let people see my skills with ninjutsu the most, my natural chakra affinity being water techniques. Although I've worked up a mastery of fire techniques over the years.

2. Become a member of the Anbu Black Ops. I've never shared this dream with anybody, but it's been one of my longest held desires. I've always gotten excited whenever I overhear little bits of information about Anbu missions. They're the kind of missions I want to carry out to protect Konoha. I haven't ever been assigned to the Anbu though, and I'm starting to admit that if it hasn't happened yet, it probably won't happen at all.

3. Become known as one of the greatest ninjas to come from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I want to protect this village with everything in me, and serve as an example of what hard work can do for you.

Kakashi was a great example of someone who had achieved all of those goals, and I secretly used him as my personal inspiration. Whenever I trained, I thought of him and pushed harder. I've heard stories of him being a great leader and teammate, and used those as examples for how I should conduct myself when working on a team for a mission.

I've never actually met Kakashi though. He had already graduated from the Academy before I had even started, and had already become a jounin before I even became a genin. I had always admired him for his achievements, and considered him to be a role model of what a ninja should be.

I watched as the students left with long faces, Kakashi trailing behind them with his nose in a book. Kakashi has been given several groups of Academy students in the past few years, and none have passed. It didn't surprise me when I heard his first group had failed, it's not unusual for students to fail the exam set by their jounin sensei. But then Kakashi failed his next group, and then his next group after that.

When he had been given his fourth group of students, I decided to watch their exam. I couldn't figure out why he failed so many students; he couldn't expect them to be prodigies like he was, so what else were these groups lacking?

After watching that fourth group take their exam, and fail, I understood. I had never seen someone put so much emphasis on teamwork, but that was Kakashi's biggest goal with each group. And none of them had figured out that the purpose of his exam was to work together.

His prowess as a ninja had always earned my admiration, but that was the day I became intrigued by him as a person. In the few years since then, every time he was given a new group of students, I watched from the shadows. If Kakashi ever noticed I was there, he never let on.

 I jumped down from the tree and made my way back to the village, my mind still on Kakashi. I couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to train alongside him. If Kakashi ever passed any students, there would be no doubt that those kids would be ninjas to watch.

* * *

My hands nervously fiddled with the paper they held, while my legs carried me to the Hokage's office. I had been summoned for the first time in years, and I had no idea what it could be about. I see the Hokage when being assigned missions, but it's been a very long time since he personally summoned me.

I took a deep breath as I knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.

"Come in." His voice sounded from the other side.

I stepped into his office, the third Hokage was sitting behind his desk.

"You summoned me, Lord Hokage?" I asked, sitting down across from him.

"Yes I did. I wanted to discuss your future career as a ninja." The Hokage looked very serious, and I started to panic, wondering if I did anything that would warrant a dismissal as a ninja.

They couldn't possibly know about THAT, could they?

The Hokage studied me before speaking again, "You've done our village great service as a chuunin all these years. But many people, myself included, feel that it is time for you to take on even more responsibility. You are a very talented ninja, and have demonstrated great leadership as well as other qualities required of a jounin. So I, the Third Hokage, am officially appointing you as a jounin."

The words sat in the air, I didn't dare believe it. The Hokage's expression never changed though, he never came out and said "I'm just kidding!" When I realized this was actually happening, I broke into a giant smile.

"I accept the position as jounin. Thank you so much Lord Hokage, I won't disappoint you!" 

He dismissed me with a slight smile, and I waited until I was out of his office before taking off running. A few people shouted to me to not run indoors, but I could barely contain my excitement. I've been working towards jounin for years.

It was finally happening. My ninja dreams were coming true. And I wouldn't rest until I was known as one of the best.

~I know this wasn't the most exciting chapter, but I wanted to give you a bit of information on your background. This is my first fanfic, so hopefully it'll get better from here!~