Underneath – Naruto's Lesson – Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I don't anything about Naruto, He and all his friends and enemies belong to people with money. Money I don't have. Suing me no money.

My First Story, but go ahead and flame me if you want. I'll just ignore you; on the other hand, constructive criticism is welcome. By the way this is not NarutoXHaku, yaoi sickens me.


Naruto lay on his back in the grass of the forest, alone with his thoughts. He had just spent the entire day climbing trees. Why? Well...

"Argh! I don't get it!"

Naruto was confused. Now normally, this would be a common enough occurrence, however, Naruto was confused normally because he missed a part of a conversation or he ignored it. No, this time it was because he was trying to understand Kakashi.

'Earlier today, Kakashi-sensei said we'd need serious training to stop Zabuza, so why did he only show us a charka exercise? Was there something hidden underneath the underneath? What was so special about that exercise? Gathering charka… okay… Tree-climbing is useful because it teaches us to gather charka at our feet…' Naruto struggled with his thoughts. 'No Kakashi-sensei said we gather it at our feet because it's the hardest place to gather charka. So, the exercise is to help learn to gather charka… and do what with it?' He scrunched up his nose in thought, 'Okay wait, I'm missing something. Alright let's cover the facts. One charka can be gathered anywhere in the body. Two, charka is used to execute techniques. Yeah, I already knew that, but what can charka do besides fuel jutsu?'

Naruto thought long into the night…



The next morning…

Back at Tazuna's home, his teammates and sensei are eating with Tazuna and Tsunami. Sakura, having only just gotten up, scratches her head as she walks over to the table.

"Morning, Sakura." Kakashi greets, casually flicking his fingers over his other hand's glove.

"Morning, Sensei." She mumbles, hand going to her mouth as she yawns.

Sasuke, sitting at the table, is already eating. He listens to Tsunami as she sets food for Sakura on the table.

"Naruto never came back last night, I hope he's alright." Tsunami says.

"Don't worry about Naruto, he may not look like it, but he's a true ninja." Kakashi placates her.

Sasuke snorts, then says, "Don't be too sure sensei." He then stands, and starts walking to the door. Kakashi looks up and raises an eyebrow at Sasuke. Sakura, on the other hand, did almost nothing.

"Sasuke-kun! Where are you going?"

"For a walk"

"But we haven't eaten yet…" She then turns to his plate to see he has finished. "Fast…" she twitched.


Back with Naruto…

Naruto awakens to the sensation of being shaken lightly.

"You shouldn't sleep here, you might catch a cold."

Naruto sat up, groggy. 'I must have fallen asleep," He thought, 'Oh well, back to training! Wait, what?'

"Who are you?" Naruto asks, "You woke me up, lady?"

"Yes." The strange lady says, turning away from Naruto to pick herbs from the forest floor.

"What are you doing here so early?" Naruto asks. He rolls forward from his butt to the balls of his feet and his knees.

"Collecting medicinal herbs."

"Collecting herbs?"

"Yes, to heal injuries and illnesses." She says, turning back to look into his face, "Why are you here so early?"

"Training!" Naruto yells.

"Training?...are you like a ninja?" She asks, perplexed.

"Yeah!" He shouts, "how could you tell? Was it this?" He asks, jamming his thumb at his forehead protector.

She smiles, which caused him to blush. "Yes, but why are you training?"

"To get stronger!"

"But aren't you already strong enough?"

"No!" He says, "I need to get stronger and stronger! So I can become the strongest ninja in my village!"

"Why do you need such strength?" She asks, now looking pensive.

"To make people acknowledge me for what I am!"

"And is this for someone?"

"Eh? What do you mean? I need to prove something to someone." Naruto says, thinking back to Sasuke.

"It's just that, I imagine that you can only truly be strong if you fight for the sake of someone else, someone important to you."

Naruto's eyes open and he stares at her. She smiles, and he blushes again, turning away.

"You…what's you're name?" He asks. She blinks and looks at him. He grins at her. "I'm Naruto!" He says proudly, pointing his thumb to his chest.

"Umm… My name is Haku…" She says, looking confused.

"Alright! Let's be friends!" He yells, suddenly, he adopts a thoughtful expression. "Hey, Haku, I have a question."

To be Continued…