Chapter 11

Naruto sat on a stump, spinning a kunai in his hand. Everyone was inside waiting for Kakashi to get up but he needed some time to think. His mind had gone back to two days ago. It was the end for Zabuza and Kakashi was about to finish it when a mist hunter-nin had beat him to it. That wasn’t what bothered him.

The ninja couldn’t have been more than two years older than him. It was a shock to his system for some reason. Anko had informed him that despite his age he would have to kill. He would usually laugh it off and tell her that he knew that but seeing someone, who was so young, take a life it was like a slap of reality.

“Hey, Naruto.” Someone called. Naruto turned to see Sasuke standing next to him.

“What do you want?” Naruto asked

“Kakashi has awoken and he needs to speak with us.” He told him and turned toward the house. Naruto just huffed and jumped off the stump. He followed his fellow teammate into Tazuna’s house.

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Back at his hidden hideout, Zabuza laid in bed while Haku watched over him. Suddenly the door opened to reveal Gato and his two bodyguards, Waraji and Zouri.

“So even you have come back defeated?” Gato asked. “The mist sure does have some pathetic ninjas.” Zabuza did not acknowledge him which made his two bodyguards angry.

“Easy.” He ordered his guards. He walked up to the bed where Zabuza laid. “Hey, there’s no need to stay silent.” He said and extended his hand to Zabuza’s face but he was intercepted by Haku. Gato growled in pain as Haku crushed his wrist.

“Don’t you dare touch Zabuza-sama with your dirty hands.” He growled. He added a bit more pressure to make his point. Waraji and Zouri began to draw their swords but found their blades at their necks. Neither man saw Haku move. “You shouldn’t do that. I’m not in a good mood right now.” He warned. Both men gulped and sweat in fear. Gato growled but he was also fearful of this boy.

“One more time Zabuza. Fail me one more time and you’re not welcomed back here.” He shouted. The three men left in a huff. Zabuza turned to Haku.

“You didn’t have to do that.” He said

“I know but we can’t kill him or we’ll have them after us again. We must be patient, Zabuza-sama.” He said with a smile.

“You’re right, as usual.” Zabuza sighed

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Team seven stood in front of their sensei. After explaining that Zabuza was still alive, he brought them out hear to prepare for his return. He had just finished explaining what they were about to do and he got very different reactions. Naruto just took off his coat and began to stretch his muscles while Sakura and Sasuke looked at Kakashi like he was mad.

“You want us to climb tress with out our hands?” asked Sakura

“Exactly.” Kakashi said

“How are we supposed to do that?” Sasuke asked. Naruto just continued to stretch. Kakashi focused some of his chakra and walked up the tree. He reached a branch and hung upside down from it.

“This is a chakra control exercise. If you get this down then you can do just about any technique.” He took three kunais and threw them at their feet. Naruto had just finished stretching and grabbed the kunai. “I suggest you run up the trees instead of walk.” Kakashi added as each student took to a tree. Sasuke made it about five feet before he flipped off the tree.

‘Add too much and you fly off the tree. Add to little and you fall off the tree. This is harder than I thought.’ Sasuke thought.

“This is easy.” Sakura said as she mad it almost to the top. Sasuke was surprised to see that.

‘It isn’t too surprising. She has the smallest chakra among the three.’ Suddenly he began to wonder something. “Where is Naruto?” he asked

“Hey, you guys should get up here and see this view.” Naruto shouted. The three was surprised.

‘How did he get so high up?’ Kakashi wondered

‘His control is that good?’ Sakura asked herself

‘How much has he been hiding?’ Sasuke thought. Naruto let the breeze hit his face as he balanced himself on the top of the tree. Having enough of the scenery, he fell back and dove toward the bottom. About half way, he grabbed a branch and swung off it into the side of the tree. He did five back flips before he landed on his feet. Everyone was looking at him. He scratched his head in embarrassment from all the attention.

“Well, it seems that Naruto is closer to being Hokage than Sasuke is too completing his ambition and it seems that book smarts doesn’t count for much.” Kakashi said. Sasuke and Sakura glared at their sensei. “Naruto, continue with the exercise until you can do it perfectly.”

“Hai sensei.” Naruto said

“That goes for you too Sakura. See how you’re almost there.” Kakashi ordered which caused Sasuke glare to intensify. All three took to the trees once again.

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It would be a few more hours before Sakura was gasping for air. The tree climbing exercise was tiring and it drained her chakra very quickly. She turned to her other teammates. Sasuke was slowly moving up the tree. It looked like he had been hacking away at that tree like a lumberjack. A loud scream brought her to her other teammate. It would only be a few seconds before the blond blur appeared, touch the ground and run up the tree again. When he got to the top, he would do an insane little stunt before coming down again. She began to wonder if this was the result of that Anko person Naruto called oneesan. Before he was the dead-last, now he was an above average ninja. She decided to get some answers from him. She heard him coming down and she stood.

“Naruto.” Sakura called. Naruto stopped and stood on the side of the tree.

“What is it pinky?” he asked. Sakura calmed herself. She needed answers and she would not get any if she pounded him into mud.

“I was just wondering how you got this down so fast. Was it because of your oneesan?” was her question.

“Yeah, it happened right after I failed for the third time. She told me that the reason I couldn’t do the bunshin correctly was because I was using too much chakra. She made me do this exercise to help. Also, I asked Hinata-chan for help since her control is almost on par with yours.”

“Wait, what do you mean almost?”

“Hinata and you have about the same control when it comes to chakra. The difference between the two of you is that she just has more chakra than you.”

“Oh.” Sakura said. She shuffled her feet because she didn’t want to ask Naruto, of all people, for help but she didn’t like the fact that the former dead last was out doing her. “Can you give me some tips on how to increase my chakra?”

“Tips?” Naruto said in awe. Sakura was actually asking him for help. It was too good to be true. He chuckled and flipped off the tree. “So you’re finally taking ninja life seriously now? About time I say.” He joked

“Naruto.” She growled

“Calm down pinky, wouldn’t want to strain yourself with your head so big and all.” He said and walked over to his coat. He pulled to scrolls from out of it. He threw them both at her. “The blue one is my basic training that I do from time to time. It is meant to increase your stamina so that will probably work in increasing your chakra level. The red one is a genjutsu technique that I got as a birthday present. I’m not good at genjutsu so it’s yours. I figure it would be good for you to have more than the basic academy stuff.” Sakura was surprised that he was actually helping her.

“Wow… thanks a lot Naruto.” She said

“Don’t mention it. You may be a harping fan-girl but you’re my teammate.” Naruto said. He turned away to face Sasuke so he was unaware of the approaching danger that was Sakura. “Hey teme, you want a Katon scroll? It’s really powerful.” In a tree, Kakashi smiled. Despite his attitude toward his teammates, he was willing to help them get stronger. He turned to see Naruto in a painful chokehold by his female teammate. It didn’t help matters when he continued to comment on Sakura’s gorilla like strength. He decided that Naruto would be fine since Sakura wouldn’t kill him. He returned to reading his book, ignoring the cries of pain.

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Naruto walked toward the bridge for his shift. It was decided that Sakura would take first shift since Naruto couldn’t after his beating. Sasuke was to continue doing the tree climbing exercise and when Sakura’s shift was over, she would train. As Naruto walked toward the bridge, he noticed that a woman need some help. Being the nice guy that he was, he decided to help her. Using the Kage Bunshin, he quickly took care of everything. As a reward, the woman gave him to scroll since she had no money. He could not believe his luck. One scroll was a Suiton but not just any Suiton scroll but a very powerful attack. Anko had one told him that the Uchiha’s favored Katon techniques rather than anything else. Water put out fires so this was a perfect technique to stick it to Sasuke. The other was a scroll of seals for beginners. He had not read it yet but he felt that it would become useful later on. He reached the bridge and met up with Sakura.

“You’re late Naruto. Don’t tell me that you’re picking up sensei’s habits.” She said

“Keep your skirt on. I just stopped to help someone. Besides, I scored me some two scrolls for it.” Naruto said with a smile

“You’re supposed to be protecting me brat.” Tazuna said

“Kami, you two bitch way too much. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.” Fifteen Narutos appeared beside the original. “All right, you three patrol the forest, you five guard below and the rest we’re in Naruto defense formation four. Any thing that looks out of the ordinary is snake food.” He ordered. The Narutos nodded and disappeared to their post. Sakura was a bit amazed by Naruto’s use of his clones.

“Well, I’m off.” Sakura said

“Hey, I meant to ask you how the training is going?” he asked

“Did you really do this stuff?”

“Yeah, why do you think the teachers at the academy had so much trouble catching me?” Sakura just sighed at his childish acts and walked away. That blond was just too confusing. Whoever ran five miles up a hill with a sack of stones must be nuts.

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Back in Konoha, a man and a boy wearing the same clothing sneezed. They stopped their running up the hill with boulders strapped to their backs to wipe their noses.

“Such a little sneeze will not stop the power of youth. Let’s continue on, Lee.”

“Yes Gai-sensei.” Lee said excited. The two continued their run while two others plotted various painful things to do to them.

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Sasuke cursed for the hundredth time. He stared at his progress. He was only halfway up the tree and did not seem to get any better. He turned to see Sakura laying on the ground in exhaustion. She was muttering about crazy exercises and stupid blonds. Sasuke clenched his fist in anger. Naruto was clearly much stronger than he was and Sakura was beginning to get serious. He sighed and swallowed his pride. He walked up to Sakura.

“Hey, Sakura…” He said. The girl opened her yes and looked up to him.

“Sasuke-kun?”

“Can you help me with this exercise?” he asked. Kakashi smiled from his hidden spot.

‘About time you got it Sasuke.’ Kakashi just hobbled off as Sakura explained the exercise.

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Authors’ Notes: Been a while but I’ve have updated. Hope you like it.