"can you explain to me why WE are stuck guarding the bridge builder?" a frustrated Haruko asked
Raiden just shook his head "we went over this last night, oh thatch right you were nursing a headache"
glaring at her sensei "and just who gave me that headache? My head still feels like I hit a brick wall" (which she did) holding her still sore head "you didn't use your brass knuckles did you"
Looking at Haruko questioningly "you know I don't have brass knuckles"
0o0o0o0
"You have got to be crazy, how can anyone climb a tree using only their feet" Naruto was being his disbelieving self.
"I should have guessed that you would be the first one to question a ninjas greatest asset, the ability to manipulate their chakra and use it to their advantage" Kakashi said "but perhaps a demonstration is in order" Kakashi hobbled to a nearby " first you need to channel your chakra to the bottoms of your feet" holding his hands together in the channeling sign "then after mixing the correct amount of chakra you can climb trees" Kakashi did the impossible, he started walking up the tree.
The three genin could only watch dumbfounded as Kakashi walked up the tree "Now then its your turn" tossing kunai at the genin that landed at their feet "use those to mark your progress up the trees"
Picking up the kunai -the three genin channeled chakra into the soles of their feet and failed the first few times. Naruto charged at the tree getting only one foot up the tree before falling back down.
Sasuke with a smirk charged at his tree, taking five steps up the tree before the surface of the tree broke, right before tumbling down he marked the tree. Reaching the ground he looked up a his mark cursing himself inward 'I should be better than that'
Kakashi looked at the two boys 'that's about right for those two, now Saukura is...' looking at the ground for her.
"Hey sensei" Kakashi looked up, seeing Sakura sitting on a lower limb.
"I guess that would be about right for her" Kakashi said with a smile
Sasuke glared at Sakura 'oh no now he hates me' Sakura winced inside, Naruto cheered her on.
Naruto and Sasuke started trying to catch up with Sakura, slowly they were making their way up the trees. At noon they took a break, Sasuke looked up at the marks, he smiled when he saw how far he had made it up the tree, glancing over at Naruto's tree he was astonished Naruto was slowly catching up to him.
Naruto looked at his tree, then glanced at Sasuke tree before glaring at him, then he walked over to Sakura and kneeled down next to her before whispering in her ear. "hey Sakura how did you climb up the tree so fast?"
Sakura was astonished "well you have to mix your chakra and when it feels right you can climb the tree"
Kakashi watched Naruto walk over and talk to Sakura 'he has the right idea talking to her'
Naruto went back to his tree.
The two started climbing their trees again, Sakura started climbing her tree shortly after. This went on till dusk, Sakura had made it halfway up the tree while Sasuke and Naruto still hadn't made it to the bottom limbs yet.
"I figured she would be the one to get the hang of it first" Raiden said walking up with Haruko and Tazuna "The other two have just the basic grasp of chakra control" this received a glare from Sasuke "I wouldn't try to let off a fire ball" Raiden took a step forward and disappeared "you'd be dead before you even got the first sign formed" reappearing behind him with placing his hand on Sasuke's neck "but don't worry your safe" removing his hand away from Sasuke's neck, Sasuke collapsed in a heap.
'I couldn't do anything, just like when Zabuza attacked us' was what went thru his mind
Sakura was being held back by Kakashi to keep her from ripping Raidens head off for hurting her precious Sasuke.
"that was a pretty fancy trick you did, can't say I've ever seen anyone travel that fast" Kakashi flipped a page in his book
"He calls it flash-step, its faster than shunshin but..." a sharp look from Raiden silenced her, a look tho brief was caught by Kakashi's watchful eye
"I say you three have had enough for one day lets go home and get some rest, tomorrow you can try again tomorrow"
0o0o0o0
(the next day)
Sasuke couldn't get it out of his head that some stranger said he only had the basic to chakra control, He'd show him, he'd show everybody that he wasn't to be taken lightly. They would see he would reach the top of the trees today. Naruto saw Sasuke's new found enthusiasm 'that jerk thinking he can outdo me well I won't let him' both of them started to climb the trees with a vengeance.
(on the bridge)
Sakura was yawning, today she was guarding Tazuna, Raiden said he couldn't do it today as he had things to do. Haruko was with her, or was supposed to be guarding Tazuna with her but said girl was taking a nap behind a pile of lumber out of the sun.
Tazuna came over to Sakura "wheres the other girl?"
Sakura nodded towards the lumber pile "over their slacking off"
a rock came flying at Sakura "I heard that forehead"
Sakura got that anime angry mark on her forehead "who you calling forehead you slacker?"
Haruko's head popped out from behind the pile, she looks around "well I don't see any other people with such a big forehead" smiling "what happened did you hit your forehead to much when you were growing up?"
"That's it you whore, I bet the only reason your traveling with Raiden is to pleasure him"
That got Haruko mad, she started stomping towards Sakura to give her a good wallop, Tazuna watched this with a twinkle in his eye.
Before it could escalate to a full blown cat-fight (and believe me they didn't want that) one of the workers walks up to Tazuna "Hey Tazuna could you give me some time off?"
The two girls forgot what they were fighting about "what is it Giichi?"
"well I've been thinking and I think we should stop building the bridge" was Giichi's answer
"where did that come from?"
"well if we stop then maybe Gato won't come after us"
"If that's what you want then I won't stop you" Tazuna turned away "oh and don't bother coming back to work tomorrow"
Sakura and Haruko followed Tazuna to town, looking about at the poverty that was obvious everywhere. A child walked up to Sakura and held out its hands "Oh I'm sorry I don't have any money" she saw the sad look on the child's face, she reached into her pocket and pulled out some candy "here you go" the child smiled at her and ran off.
Haruko was grinning at Sakura "who knew that little miss ice queen had a nice side"
"That would only help a little, that's why I want to build the bridge to give these people hope again" Tazuna told the girls quelling any further argument "I need to bye groceries for dinner" heading towards the market.
They arrived at the market, Tazuna was inspecting the food while Sakura and Haruko were keeping watch. A man walked up behind Sakura and his hand moved to pick her pocket rubbing her buttocks by accident. Sakura winced and whirling around punched the man square in the face "hands to yourself pervert!"
The man went flying but before hitting the wall he was caught and set gently on the ground "I wouldn't try to pick the pocket of another girl for a while 'kay" Raiden said smiling at the man "heres a little something for your trouble" he pulled out some gold Ryo out of his pocket and handed it to the man before sending him on his way
Tazuna looked at Raiden "you know you didn't have to do that" picking out some vegetables and was about to pay for them before Raiden put his hand on his shoulder stopping him.
"I'll pay for this" handing the woman some money.
On the way home Raiden was carrying the groceries "you know if you keep flashing money like that then your going to end up in trouble" Tazuna told Raiden as he gave money to the eigth person they met
"call it trouble but I'm trying to draw out the serpent from his lair by letting him know that their is someone else out their with as much money as him and is financing the bridge" Tazuna gave him a weird look before continuing on home.
**elsewhere**
Gato barged into a tree hideout where Zabuza was recovering from his run in with Kakashi "this is pathetic, the demon of the hidden mist village done in by another ninja and two brats" Gato scoffed as he walked towards the bedridden Zabuza, waving for his two samurai to stay at the door.
He was about to grab Zabuza when a vice like grip grabbed his arm. Haku had a killer look in his eyes "don't touch master" the samurai were about to draw their swords, Haku disappeared and reappeared between them "don't you dare try anything" with an even scarier look on his face
Gato backed away from Zabuza "just make sure you finish the job this time, I don't pay slackers" Gato turned to his samurai and nodded for them to follow them.
"Haku you didn't need to interfere" Zabuza said holding a kunai in the stabbing position
"Yes i understand, but it wouldn't do well if you killed our employer"
Zabuza sighed the kid was right, if he killed their employer then he wouldn't get payed for doing the job "your right as usual"
Haku smiled at Zabuza.
0o0o0o0o0
Naruto was out late tonight again practicing he was slowly catching up to Sasuke but not fast enough. Haruko was watching Naruto as he continued to practice even tho he was failing more often than not. She was about to leave when he collapsed, "the idiot exerting all his chakra"
she jumped down and covered him with the blanket that she had wrapped about herself. "That idiot had better not catch a cold because he stayed out all night" she left him and went back to Tazuna's house
0o0o0o0
Haku was out collecting herbs for Zabuza's wounds, he stopped for a second to admire the birds. one of the birds flew off and Haku watched it, glimpsing a blanket he walked over to it and saw the blond ninja that was with Kakashi, the man who hurt his master. He swallowed, and started reaching for the blond genin's throat, one of the birds landed on the blonds head stopping Haku from strangling the blond. Instead Haku tried to wake the boy up "hey wake up" he said gently shaking the blond awake.
The blond stirred and for a second stared at the blanket then at the person who woke him "are you the person who covered me up?" he asked, 'man she's cute" blushing slightly.
The person shook her head "you were already covered when I got here, I assumed you were camping out"
Naruto looked around him "I must have collapsed from exhaustion" he got up letting the blanket fall off him "that's right I need to get back to training so I can beat that stupid Sasuke"
The girl looked at him "why train?"
Naruto looked a little confused "so I can get stronger" he answered bluntly
the girl continued to look at him "and what happens after you get stronger, what then?"
Naruto stood proudly and clenched a fist "I will get stronger then everyone will respect me"
"Is that your only goal?" the girl asked Naruto "you don't have someone special that you want to protect?" the girl proceeded to pick herbs.
"Do you need to protect someone?" Naruto asked with a questioning look as he helped the girl pick herbs
"without someone to protect then what is the reason to go on living?"
"..." Naruto didn't have an answer for this
the girl got up "that's enough herbs thank you for your help" she started to leave "by the way I'm a guy"
Naruto's jaw dropped 'no way he's even cuter than Sakura'
0o0o0o0o0
Sasuke came to the forest to join Naruto, he expected to see Naruto climbing the trees with a vengeance but to his surprise he found Naruto sitting their contemplating something. He walked up to the dope and was about to scare he when he was surprised.
"Hey Sasuke I think I figured out why we can't reach the top of our trees and why Sakura was able to"
Sasuke sat beside him "what is it that you found out dope"
Naruto didn't react to the nickname that the last of the Uchiha had given him since they first met "I met someone who told me that his job was to protect his special someone and because of the he would be able to overcome anything, and I realized something I don't have someone special to protect and neither do you" the Uchiha sat their silently still listening to the dope "Sakura desires to protect you with her life even if it kills her, maybe that's why she made it to the limbs and we didn't"
Sasuke sat their contemplating what Naruto had said for a little while before he stood up and looked at the blond "you might be right, from now on me and you we will be rivals, we will watch each others back at the same time compete to outdo the other, so dope hurry up and catch up to me" he grabbed a kunai and ran towards his tree Naruto smiled at him and grabbing a Kunai himself ran for his tree as well
0o0o0o0o0
(that afternoon)
Kakashi and Sakura were walking with Tazuna thru the forest on the way back from the bridge for lunch to check on the boys. They got to where they were practicing their tree climbing skills and to the surprise of them they saw Naruto hanging upside down on one of the limbs BY HIS FEET.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei look I made it to the bottom limbs" he let go of his concentration and started to fall, Kakashi got a horror look on his face as Naruto started to fall. Naruto started to laugh when he caught himself by his feet on a lower limb at the looks of horror on the three bystanders faces. That was when he really lost chakra control and started plummeting towards the ground. Before Kakashi could react Naruto was caught by Sasuke from falling to his death.
The two genin glared at each other for a second before they smiled at each other, Kakashi stared at them before smiling at his pupils "looks like those two are getting along now" the four of them went to Tazuna's house together to eat lunch.
0o0o0o0o0
(Tazuna's house)
Sakura was looking at a picture on the wall while waiting for the meal to be prepared, Raiden was in the kitchen helping Tsunami prepare the meal. When it came to food he may not have been a culinary genius but he came close, he could make those two day old vegetables that they were buying taste like a meal fit for a king. "what happened to this picture?" Sakura asked innocently "why is some of it ripped off?"
Tazuna and Tsunami went quiet "it was a picture of our family, and one day Inari ripped the picture of his father off of it"
"I'm sorry" Sakura apologized
"Their is no need for you to apologize Sakura you didn't know" Tazuna said "In this land he was called a hero, he gave people hope and stood up to Gato and his men but in the end they killed him"
"a hero you say" everyone looked startled at Inari "he was killed how could he be a hero when he died"
Naruto got mad "what do you mean by he wasn't a hero when he was killed he tried his best but he still got killed how does that not make him a hero?"
"He died because he stood up to Gato and his men, something we shouldn't do" with that Inari ran out of the dining room and into his room slamming the door, Naruto got up and followed him to his room and was about to burst in when he heard crying "father why did you have to go and die, father!"
Naruto turned back around and walked back into the dining room and sat down "for a boy that age to witness a death it stays in their mind for life, and they have no way to forget it, they see something and that memory resurfaces, whether its a picture or just a piece of cloth, or even a certain way somebody talks or walks could trigger that memory" Raiden was saying as he was finishing the dish he was preparing "when an adult see a death than can push it back and deal with the psychological trauma better than a child can, but as shinobi we don't have the luxury of waiting till we're adults till we see our first death, some of us are not much older than Inari when we see it and some times it is us doing the killing, that is just the way of the Shinobi, always forging ahead no matter who you kill or how many of your comrades fall, the only thing we can do is remember our fallen comrades and make sure they are not forgotten, all hidden villages have a memorial stone for fallen shinobi who fell in the line of duty, once they're their names can't be removed" Raiden put the dish down that he prepared and grabbing his jacket headed out the door.
Everyone looked towards Haruko for an explanation "he doesn't talk much about his past but on certain days either when he's drunk or just crying in his sleep you can here him calling out the names of people I assume were dear to him, and when he thinks no one can here he burst out crying" Haruko got a sad look on her face "I never knew my parents the only family I've ever known is Raiden, I can only assume I was abandoned and he found me and raised me, The only reason I'm here today is because he chose to open his heart of stone and let someone in" Haruko brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them "sometimes I wander what my parents were like, I'm sure they loved me but for some reason they couldn't care for me" she rolled onto her side "Raiden has promised me to take me to my birth place when I'm older and show me to my parents grave" After that everyone ate their meal in silence, with so much talk about death and people not knowing their origins ruined the conversation for everyone.
(After the meal)
Kakashi walked down the hall to Marinara's room and knocked before entering "you know Inari Naruto never knew his parents, he always strives to do his best" he sat next to Inari "he quit crying a while ago maybe because he realized that crying didn't get him anywhere so he strove to move forward and become a hero then all the villagers back home would have to appreciate him" Inari looked at Kakashi as he got up "maybe its just me but I think Naruto sees his younger self in you" Kakashi left Marinara's room.
After the meal Sasuke and Naruto immediately headed to the forest so that they could try to reach the top of the trees before dark. After trying the pair finally succeeded in reaching the top of their trees as the sun started to set.
Sasuke looked over at Naruto who was grinning at him "hey dope lets go back"
Naruto nodded in agreement.
The pair arrived back at Tazuna's house disheveled but none the worst for wear and they were both grinning from ear to ear "we both made it to the top of our tree!" the two genin then collapsed from exhaustion.
