Hey, everyone. Sorry for the long wait. Over five months since my last update… I can't really say anything that wouldn't just be an excuse.
To try and make up for it, I'm posting this and chapter 5 simultaneously. I hope you enjoy them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
As the moon shined down on the village and most of the civilians had gone to sleep, Naruto, Ayame and Haku stayed within the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, planning to start attempting to improve the blonds' habits. Upon hearing the about their intentions from his daughter, Teuchi had left her and the ice user to it.
Ayame stood behind the counter, her hands on her hips as she looked down at the boy who was almost like a little brother to her, who was seated on an extra stool that had been placed against a wall. "Alright, Naruto, let's get started. Lesson 1-" She said, holding up one finger. "Table manners."
Naruto groaned, propping both his arms up on the table and letting his head fall into his hands. "Do I really have to? I was getting along just fine before." He said, already having second thoughts as Ayame walked into the kitchen.
Haku shook his head at the blond. It was a very good thing his master wasn't the one trying to teach him, otherwise the Rinnegan bearer might find out why the sword wielding jonin's blade is called the Kubikiribocho (Decapitating Carving Knife). Not that Zabuza would try to teach someone manners. "Haven't we already discussed this? You said you would be willing to give it a try."
"Yeah, but I don't see how eating fits in to that. I can see that pissing off a village leader could cause trouble, but this isn't going to help."
Haku sighed. "While that's true, this won't really help you as a leader, it would still be beneficial to learn this. As Ayame said, no woman likes a slob. If you did manage to convince Sakura to go on a date with you, your eating habits could drive her away."
Naruto lifted his head out of his hands and turned his head to look at the ice user. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with the way I eat."
"I beg to differ." Haku replied with an expression of distaste. "It's a little disturbing for some to see you shovel down bowls of ramen in seconds and move to the next without skipping a beat and you have a tendency to talk with your mouth full when someone says or does anything that surprises you, which no one wants to see. That alone is proof enough. At least you somehow manage not to get the broth over your mouth, which is a little impressive with how quickly you suck up the noodles."
"He's right, you know," Ayame said as she walked back towards the pair holding a bowl of steaming ramen in her hands. The whiskered blonds' eyes tracked the bowl as it was set in front of him like a predator tracks its prey. One sniff and Naruto recognized it as Miso Ramen, one of his favorites next to Chicken, Beef, Shrimp, Tonkotsu, Pork...
... Ok, so maybe Naruto didn't actually HAVE a favorite when it came to the noodle dish. They were all his favorites, and that was just fine with him.
With the bowl now in front of him, steam wafting up and filling the air with its heady scent, Naruto's mouth began to water. Sitting next to him, Haku simply quirked a brow at the elated yet longing look that covered the Rinnegan bearer's features as he stared into the bowl. Disgust crossed the androgynous teen's features as a line of drool ran out of the blonds' mouth.
Unable to resist the scent currently driving him crazy any longer, Naruto's hands reached out to scoot the bowl closer to him so he could feast upon the divine bowl of food. Truly only the gods themselves could have possibly come up with a dish as incredible as ramen. Closer and closer his hands inched, his fingers twitching in anticipation as he made to grab the bowl -
"Ouch!"
- Only to get his hand smacked with a ladle the moment he reached the bowl by Ayame.
"Not so fast," she told him, holding her ladle like it was some kind of weapon and shaking it back and forth threateningly. Naruto sniffled a bit as he rubbed his now soar knuckles, small tears coming out of his eyes as he looked at his older sister figure. "Don't give me that look," Ayame said in response to his puppy dog eyes. "It's not going to work on me, you should just be grateful that we've decided you learning how to use proper table manners was a good enough cause to let you use ramen to practice with."
Once more, Naruto's face lit up. While he still didn't see much of a point in learning how to eat properly, if he got ramen out of the deal than he would be willing to spend hours learning the ins and outs of table manners. This was definitely his kind of studying.
"But..." Ayame began again, and this time a feeling of intense foreboding fell over the blond, casting a chill over the normally warm and comfortable in. The air felt cold, colder even hen when he had been surrounded by Haku's ice mirrors. Darkness seemed to engulf the area as the girl gave him a glacial cold smile that when combined with the chips of ice that had taken the place of her eyes presented a truly horrifying sight. It was during this moment that Naruto found true terror.
Zabuza who?
"If I even think that you're screwing up on purpose to take advantage of our hospitality, I'm going to charge you double for every bowl you eat tonight. Understand?" Obvious horror spread across the blonds' features at the waitress's threat. He may have been willing to pay any price for the divine dish he coveted so, but he was well aware how deeply this would put him in debt to the Ichiraku's. Meaning he'd have to go without the meal until he managed to repay them.
Not to mention that his precious frog wallet, which he affectionately called 'Gama' would once again be completely empty for quite some time… He could see it in his mind's eye, lying on the ground completely flat, so light that even a slight breeze would blow it away.
He nodded frantically and instantly, the cold, ominous aura vanished completely, replaced by the shops normal comforting atmosphere as the darkness receded and the ramen chef smiled brightly. "Wonderful. Now let's get started."
Haku closed his eyes and began to explain. "First should be obvious, don't talk with your mouth full. When you do so, your speech is muffled, people can see the food in your mouth, and there's a chance that flecks of food will come out of your mouth. None of which is particularly appealing, especially when one is trying to eat. Swallow first before speaking."
Thinking about it, Naruto had to agree that he didn't like the sound of any of that. "Ok. That's not so hard."
"Second is posture. Don't slouch when you're eating." Haku said before pointing to the wall Naruto was against. "Sit up with your back straight against the wall." Naruto did so. "Good. Now, try to stay like that and eat more slowly. Your stomach and your wallet will probably thank you, and remember not to talk with your mouth full…"
An hour later, Naruto swallowed a mouthful of ramen. The ice user seated next to him nodded in approval. "Much better, and you didn't open you mouth when we surprised you." Although there was one time when he choked slightly…
Naruto turned to him, smiling as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I thought that if Ayame and the old man were offering free ramen, I should at least do my best to get this." Though that was part of it, he neglected to mention that he was also afraid for his wallet. He was aware how much he spent on ramen; he did not want to pay double.
"Yeah… but…" Ayame said slowly, turning to look at the sink. In it were 25 dirty bowls that once held ramen. The only reason there weren't more empty bowls was because he had to stop for their instructions. With a sigh, she turned back to Naruto, raising a hand to her face as she calculated the amount of money they lost in this endeavor and would stand to lose during future lessons…
She did not like the answer.
Still, if it was for her younger-brother figure, she'd to it. Besides, if Naruto still ate like that, they'd make the money back in due time. "Sorry Naruto, but for now, lesson's over."
"That's all right. I made good progress, right?" Naruto asked.
Haku nodded before turning to the waitress sympathetically, aware of how much this was going to cost them. "Are you sure you don't want us to pay? Not even for half of that?"
Ayame gave him a grateful look as she answered. "It's all right. Trust me, Naruto will make up for it in the future."
Naruto grinned and said energetically, "You better believe it. I'll stop by sometime soon and eat until I can't stomach another mouth full." Knowing how much eating there affected his own wallet; he knew they'd lost a good amount of money tonight. He was kind of on the stingy side, but the old man and the waitress were like family and he refused to leave them in the red because they wanted to be nice to him.
That had happened too much back when he was staying at the orphanage…
"Glad to hear it. Just what I expect from our number one customer."
"I see. Well, I think it's time we get going. We do have more training tomorrow." Haku smiled while closing his eyes and tilting his head slightly, "Thank you for your hospitality."
Ayame blushed. "D-don't mention it. I mean, he's like family to us."
"I can see that. He's lucky to have met people like you." Haku replied, causing her blush to deepen as she turned her head away as she raised a hand to her cheek and chuckled bashfully.
Naruto blinked before giving to his older sister figure a look of curiosity. He'd never seen Ayame act that way before. After watching her for a few more minutes as she stared dreamily at the ice user, hands on her cheeks and a blush staining her face, he shrugged it off as some kind of girl thing. From what he had seen so far from Sakura, Hinata, and Ino, girls were just weird like that.
With nothing left to do here, Naruto made his goodbyes to Haku and Ayame, and then left the stand for his apartment. He would need a good nights rest. After all, he thought with a shiver, he would be training with Zabuza tomorrow.
Naruto stood back to back with one of his shadow clones, their Rinnegan eyes blazing beneath their sunglasses as they separated, leaping in different directions as a wave of senbon came down upon them.
As one of the Narutos scanned the trees surrounding the clearing, he spied a humanoid mass of chakra hiding behind the leaves before the person threw another group of senbon at the other Naruto.
The targeted blond, seeing what his doppelganger was seeing, quickly jumped to the side just in the nick of time to avoid the needles.
The two blonds continued to dodge and weave around the senbon, using the legendary dojutsu's ability to combine their fields of vision and watch both attackers as Zabuza watched from a nearby treetop and Kakashi leaned against another, reading his book and giggling perversely every once in a while, his sole visible eye wandering from its pages to the battle on occasion.
Sasuke was off on his own, practicing his taijutsu katas. From what Kakashi saw, he didn't really need supervision for this, so he had decided to take this moment and observe his other students' training.
After they'd finished their water walking exercises, the copy ninja had made a suggestion regarding their training. Knowing what Haku was teaching Sakura, he proposed that she use the blond as target practice. Naruto had reacted as one would expect, until Kakashi explained his reasoning. The idea was for the Jinchuriki to use one clone with the Rinnegan active to keep an eye on both Haku and Sakura as they threw senbon at him, this would help Sakura by giving her a moving target, though her throwing skills were decent enough to hit a stationary target it needed a lot of work, and it would help Naruto adjust to the Rinnegan's unusual ability to link his and his clones' fields of vision. It was fortunate that he discovered the strange connection the Rinnegan made wasn't strong enough to force his clones to activate their Rinnegan when he did his, or else it would be impossible for him to do this and have other clones read at the same time.
The real Naruto leapt into the air as both his opponents launched senbon at him before twisting his body in mid air, spinning so he was perpendicular to the ground and bending his body, narrowly dodging another cluster of needles before landing in a crouch with one hand on the ground and searching, having lost track of one of them. He had a few senbon stuck in his body and had needed to replace his clone a few times, but his famous boundless energy meant that he still wasn't tired, even though he'd been doing this for the past two hours with only one break.
From his clone's point of view, he saw another barrage of senbon coming at his unprotected back. As he leapt to the side, his clone followed the needles back to their source, knowing the unique appearance of their chakra enough to recognize the attacker as Haku.
This was amazing! He hadn't thought much of it when he first used it, in fact, it seemed irritating how he was forced to see through his clone's eyes if they had his dojutsu active, but now he could see just how useful it really was. He wondered just how far he could take this, how many perspectives could he see through without overwhelming him?
Still, for all their good points: two visual abilities and the ability to use all the elements, he was starting to find these eyes really irritating. He had spent days trying to figure out how his eyes worked, what other abilities they kept hidden, and come up with nothing for his efforts. He knew from his battle on the bridge, what he'd been told of it anyway, that his eyes had some special powers, and… he didn't know what, but something told him that those ringed eyes held incredible power, but he was getting nowhere. It was so frustrating.
"Ok, that's enough." Zabuza called out, getting their attention before leaping out of the tree. Naruto ran towards his position as he cut the chakra flow to his eyes and his clone dismissed itself, arriving just as he landed, as Sakura and Haku jumped out of the nearby trees and touched down beside the blond while Kakashi casually walked over to join them. "Pretty good. You seem to be adjusting to those eyes quickly." He said to Naruto, who grinned in response, before turning to Sakura. "And those senbon seem to be a good fit for you. I can definitely see you doing some damage if you poisoned them." Sakura smiled, this being the first time he complimented her since finding out she was a natural at chakra control. "I have to admit Kakashi had a good idea here, though I don't want you to become reliant on those eyes."
Naruto's expression showed excitement as he asked, "Does that mean you're going to teach me that silent killing trick?"
Upon hearing the blonds' words about the technique he practically owned due to how good he was at it, Zabuza's right eye began to gain a violent twitch. "It's not a trick you damn brat!" he shouted, air blowing from his lungs in such force that Naruto's hair was buffeted as if caught in a stiff breeze. "It's an incredibly useful technique in which one must learn to remain completely silent at all times in order to sneak up on and assassinate their opponent before they even realize you're there! It takes a lot time, sweat, and blood to become even semi-proficient with it!" Realizing that he was beginning to get a bit angry, and that he had begun releasing killing intent due to how the two genin were shaking, Zabuza calmed down and coughed into his hand.
"Anyways, Silent killing wouldn't suit your style," he continued, speaking as if his outburst had never happened. "From what I saw of your battle, both with me and with Haku on the bridge, you're an assault type. You prefer getting in close and fighting your enemies head on, am I right? You may have the capacity to learn my jutsu, though it will take you years to do so, but it would be pointless since you'd never use it."
Naruto crossed his arms and turned his head away in a childish gesture. "I would so use it."
Zabuza tilted his head to the side. "Oh yeah, when?" Naruto opened his mouth. "Besides the first strike."
The blond crossed his arms, his face scrunching up as he thought about it. Were it not for his glasses, his expression would make him resemble a fox. He hummed as he carefully considered the answer, knowing lying would earn him a harsher training session and failing to give a satisfactory answer meant Zabuza wouldn't teach him the technique. "Well, if I'm fighting someone I can't beat the way I usually fight, I guess."
Zabuza glared slightly. "So you'd only use it as a last resort?"
Naruto met his glare with his own defiant one. "Yeah, but I'd still use it!"
"Bah! Why should I bother to teach it to you if you're only going to use it when all else fails? You just want to learn it because you want to learn anything you think is awe-inspiring."
Seeing Naruto was obviously about to continue the argument, Kakashi fixed his gaze on his student and spoke up. "Naruto, Zabuza's right." He gave the Sharingan wielder a shocked look. "Silent Killing is not meant to be used that way. Even if it was, as Zabuza said, it takes many years to get it right. Do you really want to spend that much time on a technique you'll almost never use when it could be better spent learning jutsu or something you'll actually make use of?"
The Rinnegan bearer calmed down, seeing his sensei's point. Looking slightly disappointed, he turned to the other jonin. "Well, are you at least going to teach me some stealth tricks?"
Zabuza scoffed. "Do you need to ask? Stealth is an integral part of being a ninja. And stop calling them tricks." He then turned to Kakashi, who stood off to the side reading his book. "Hey, is it alright to leave your student unsupervised?"
The copy ninja shrugged without looking up from his book. "Eh, he usually spends most of his free time training anyway. He's practicing katas and he's pretty much got them down, he doesn't need me looming over him at the moment." He said, casually flipping a page. "In a while, I'll spar with him for a while using the taijutsu style of an acquaintance of mine. Help him adjust to facing different combat styles." Actually, the man was one of his best remaining friends… but he'd never admit that to anyone.
Zabuza nodded before turning to Haku. "That reminds me, what do you plan to do with the girl for the rest of the day?"
"Well, I had intended to get started on her physical conditioning today." Sakura took on a slightly apprehensive look at that. "And afterwards, I'll let her cool down by showing her some herbs I found growing just outside the village. I thought I might test her knowledge of plants and their uses, based on what she told me, she's a quick study."
"Oh, you mean like that time we met in the forest?" Naruto asked.
"Exactly."
"Huh? What are you two talking about?" Sakura raised a brow. Kakashi, also curious, raised his eyes out of his book.
"That's right. We never told you, did we? Haku and I first met when he was looking for herbs to help Zabuza-sensei. I'd passed out from training and he woke me up." Naruto explained with a grin before turning to Haku. "I didn't know before then that plants could be used for medicine. I wonder if any of the plants I keep have any healing properties."
Sakura blinked and stared at Naruto. "… Since when do you know the definition of the word 'properties' or how to use it correctly?"
"Well, my clones have read pretty far into the dictionary Kakashi-sensei gave me, though I'll have to have them go over it a few more times before I really remem-… Hey! I was never that dumb!"
The pink haired girl smirked. "'Catra'." The Jinchuriki blushed and turned his face away from them with a slight pout, seeing that he'd lost that argument. "Wait, you grow plants? Huh, I didn't know you had a hobby like that."
"There's a lot you don't know about me Sakura." Naruto said with a slight smirk, although it didn't reach his eyes, revealing it to be fake. His last statement reminded him that neither of his teammates knew of his Jinchuriki status… and he wasn't looking forward to them inevitably finding out. Since the day they officially became a team, he had thought about the day his biggest secret was revealed to them, and how they'd react. The thought of them looking at him the same way the villagers did… he resisted the urge to cringe and decided to change the subject. "Have you seen the local flower shop?" He asked Haku.
Haku shook his head and Sakura spoke up. "Oh yeah, Yamanaka Flowers. It's run by Ino-pig's family. My mom has bought some carnations there."
Haku gave her an inquisitive look. "Ino… pig?"
"A girl who graduated with us at the academy. She's kind of her rival; they've got the same stupid thing for Sasuke." Naruto clarified quietly, but unfortunately not quietly enough.
"What was that?" Sakura growled, taking a step toward him threateningly.
Haku subtly shook his head while giving Naruto a look warning him not to continue, which the genin missed. The blond shrugged. "I mean, I don't see why you guys like him so much. Sure, he was the top of our class and he comes from some great and powerful clan." He said with sarcastic undertones at the end. Haku sighed and face-palmed. "But he's such a jerk. The guy looks down on everyone and he just broods to himself all the time. If you ask me, he seems kind of emo. And you guys and the rest of his fan club keep chasing him around all the time and he never even gives you the time of day. It seems pretty dumb that you keep chasing him when it's clear he wants nothing to do with you guys." He said, not realizing that he was basically the pot calling the kettle black.
Sakura's anger gradually grew as the blond continued listing things wrong with the object of her affections, her head falling forward, hiding her eyes behind shadows as she raised a trembling fist. Naruto continued, completely unaware of Sakura's flaring temper until he mentioned how foolish continuing to pursue Sasuke was, at which point she lunged at the blond. "NARUTO!"
The Rinnegan bearer finally took notice, far too late, of his teammate's growing ire. His eyes shot open as he saw her charge at him, her fist pulled back in preparation to strike him with all her might, her eyes literally burning with rage. Terror consumed him as he recalled the other times he'd managed to anger her this much.
Thanks to his recent training, he was able to dodge her first strike, barely. He leapt to the side as the pink haired kunoichi brought her fist down. He immediately ran when her fist, filled with pure, annoyed feminine fury, dug into the ground several inches and cracks spread around it. Not wasting a moment, she quickly began pursuing the blond.
"Sa- Sakura! I get it, you're mad! Please calm down!" Naruto yelled at the irate kunoichi as he dodged another blow. "Come on! It was a mistake! I didn't mean it!"
"Shut up and take your punishment like a man!" Sakura yelled as she closed in on him.
Haku sweat-dropped while Zabuza let out a laugh at the spectacle. Kakashi simply glanced up from his book for a moment before returning to it, having seen this type of situation multiple times before from those two.
"Wow, so I guess pinky has some fight in her after all." The masked jonin commented.
"Yes… Sakura has quite the temper, and Naruto tends to wind up on the receiving end of it most of the time." Kakashi answered.
"I can see that." Zabuza said, evaluating the damage her attacks caused. The observers wished the blond luck, knowing enough not to try to get between an enraged female and her target.
Over the course of the next few minutes, the training ground became littered with spider web cracks, both on the ground and the trees, some of which had chunks of the sides missing as Naruto struggled to avoid Sakura's attacks.
Finally, the blond, with his back up against a tree, waved his arms in front of him as Sakura's fist neared his head. With an anger filled cry, she struck him on the upper left side of his head, sending Naruto flying to the ground hard enough to leave a small groove in the dirt. He laid there on the ground, a large lump growing from his head where he had been struck. Zabuza chuckled and shook his head as Haku helped the blond up before his brow furrowed. "Wait, you said 'Yamanaka'… the Yamanaka clan runs the place?"
Naruto rubbed the lump on his head as he looked at the former mist ninja. "Yeah, why? Have you heard of them?"
"Are you kidding? They're a major clan of your village. They specialize in jutsu related to the mind and are known to be experts in intelligence gathering an espionage."
This was obviously news to the genin. Naruto, eyes wide, asked, "How'd you know that?"
Zabuza crossed his arms. "I'm not a former ANBU for nothing, kid. Back when I was still a ninja of Kiri, I made a point of gathering what scarce information I could on the major clans in rival nations."
Haku gained a thoughtful look. "If the shop is run by a clan of ninja… Hey, Kakashi…" The Sharingan wielder had asked earlier that Haku not use formalities and call him by name. Said jonin turned his gaze on the ice user, who took that as a cue to continue. "Do you know if this flower shop sells poisonous plants or medicinal herbs?"
Kakashi's gaze turned skyward as he brought his hand to his chin and thought. "I don't typically use either and I only have a passing knowledge on that subject, so I can't tell you how extensive their stores are, but I believe so, yes."
Haku nodded and turned to the blond genin. "Naruto, think you could show it to me? I don't think we passed it during the tour you three gave us."
Naruto grinned. "No problem. I was planning on going there soon anyway."
Haku nodded. "Thanks, I look forward to it. Even if they don't sell what I'm looking for, it could be a nice hobby." He said before turning. "Well, we should get going. I think we've had enough time to catch our breaths after such a light exercise. Come along, Sakura."
"Hey. Before you go, what are the first steps of water and wind manipulation?" Naruto called out.
Haku looked at him out of the corner of his eye as he and Zabuza raised a (non-existent in the masked ninja's case) eyebrow and Kakashi glanced at him. "Huh? Why do you ask? Didn't you agree it was best that you work on the basics before we moved on?" the demon of the mist asked.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but I figured that if it was something I can do on my own, you know, at home if I'm up to it after Zabuza-sensei's training or after a mission. I've been doing some chakra control exercises at home and I thought, since I have two elements to learn, it might be a good idea to get a head start while we're still working on my taijutsu."
Zabuza nodded, giving the blond a look of approval. "Huh. Good idea, brat. Are you actually starting to think ahead?" He had drilled the blond in the importance of thinking things through during their sparring matches, intent on making certain he never did anything as foolish as he had on the bridge when he walked into Haku's dome of ice mirrors after announcing his own presence, ruining the element of surprise. The blond simply chuckled with a grin in response. "Well, the water manipulation exercise isn't something you can do indoors, it requires a large body of water, but the wind chakra exercise is much more convenient."
Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really? What is it?" he asked, not noticing Haku walk over and pick up a fallen leaf as Sakura watched the raven haired teen with a look of curiosity. The boy's expression became one of bewilderment as Haku handed him the leaf. "Huh?"
"You need to cut the leaf in half with your chakra. Once you can split the leaf in two without concentrating on it, you'll have mastered this step of your training." Haku explained.
The Jinchuriki raised an eyebrow. "Is that all? That sounds easy."
Haku shook his head, amusement clear on his features. He was going to enjoy their reactions to what he was about to tell them, and he knew his master would too. "Trust me; it's much more difficult than it sounds. It takes the average ninja years to complete the exercise."
Both of the genin stared at him in shock, their mouth's agape as their minds reeled with the new knowledge. "Years? How are we supposed to pull this off in time for the exams if it usually takes years?" Sakura asked.
"You aren't." Zabuza replied with a shrug, enjoying their surprised looks. After a moment, he decided to answer the question that was obviously on their minds. "You don't need to master the exercise or have the affinity to learn a jutsu of an element."
The pink haired genin looked at him curiously. "Then what's the advantage of having an affinity?"
This time, Kakashi answered. "While it is possible to learn jutsu without first mastering an element or having an affinity, without either, the jutsu will be extremely difficult and time consuming to learn. On top of that, it'll be relatively weak and ineffective and cost far more chakra than it should. It would take at least half a decade before you were able to use it at the same level that you could if you had an affinity and a full decade to master the element. Why waste that much time when you could focus on the element you have a predisposition for? Then you can use the jutsu effectively from the moment you learn it and master it in less than half the time."
The two genin absorbed this information briefly before something occurred to Sakura. "Wait, then how's Sasuke use fire jutsu? He has the lightning affinity, doesn't he?"
Kakashi shrugged. "The Uchiha all have a predisposition towards the fire element. Sasuke's primary affinity is for lightning, but he likely has a minor affinity for fire that was overpowered by his lightning affinity." His gaze fell back to his book. "Besides, we don't know when he learned his fire jutsu. He's been practicing it for who knows how long."
Naruto looked confused, tilting his head to the side as he tried to understand what he was being told. If that was the case, why were they wasting time by not skipping straight to the techniques, he really wanted to start learning the techniques like the ones he'd seen his sensei and Zabuza use in Wave. "Then why are we even bothering with the exercises? Why can't we just learn jutsu?"
"Well, first of all because the more experience you have with the element and the further along with the exercise you are, the easier it'll be to use the jutsu and the more powerful they'll be." Kakashi explained as he casually flipped a page of his book. "That aside, once you master the element, you'll be able to create your own, unique jutsu."
Naruto's expression lit up at hearing that he could make his own, original techniques after mastering his element. Beyond his Sexy Jutsu, he hadn't really considered making his own, original techniques, but now that his sensei mentioned it, he couldn't believe he'd never thought about it before. It was a totally awesome idea!
And with the Rinnegan, the possibilities were endless! Kakashi had used his Sharingan to copy a thousand techniques, but with his dojutsu, he would top that by creating a thousand techniques! And he'd use them all to finally put Sasuke in his place. Then Sakura would stop fawning over the jerk and the old man Hokage would see his power. He could see it now, the day where the old man said, 'Naruto, I never dreamed you would become so strong. You are truly the only one worthy of being my successor.' And then he'd finally receive the respect and recognition he always dreamed of.
The other individuals standing in the clearing sweat-dropped as Naruto stood there with his hands clasped together, wearing a wide grin and chuckling as he daydreamed.
Zabuza leaned over to Kakashi. "Hey. Does he do that often?"
Kakashi glanced indifferently at his chuckling student before shrugging and returning to his book. "Occasionally. He's just having a daydream; it'll pass in a minute"
After a few moments, Naruto's mind returned to the real world. He had the dignity to look embarrassed, rubbing his head and smiling sheepishly as he apologized. "Are you done?" The sword wielding jonin asked with a raised non-existent brow.
"Yeah." Naruto replied, deciding it a good idea to get back on topic to avoid further embarrassment. "Anyway, forget years, I'll have both these elements mastered by the end of this year." He said, smirking confidently as he balled his hand into a fist and punched to his open left palm.
"Good to see training under me hasn't dulled your enthusiasm." Zabuza commented, thinking to himself that he'd probably pull it off if he used his clones to accelerate his training. "And I see you were smart enough to ask while Haku was still here."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I figure it be better to ask Haku, since he actually uses the wind element. So, got any tips before I get started?"
"The only advice I can give you is to remember that when manipulating wind-natured chakra, you need to imagine splitting the chakra in two and rubbing them together, sharpen the edges of the chakra as much as you can and make it as thin as possible, then compress the two halves together." Haku replied. "The rest is a matter of experience."
"Got it. So, what can I do with the wind element exactly? Any good jutsu you can think of?"
Haku looked slightly sheepish. "Well… to be honest, I don't actually know any wind jutsu."
Both of the genin looked shocked as they turned to Zabuza, while Kakashi gave him an impassive glance. The sword wielding jonin shrugged. "What? I'm not exactly well versed in wind jutsu and we didn't have access to any village's library. Where was he supposed to learn them from? I knew enough to help him get a handle on manipulating wind chakra for his Ice Style, but that's it." He said before supping his chin in thought. 'Although… I may want to look into that, and not just for Haku. Lightning's one of my biggest weaknesses right now and the wind element would help even the odds against a skilled lightning user… at the very least, I should learn wind chakra flow.' He thought to himself. Given that it wasn't his affinity and he'd waited so long, it would take at least half a year before he was able to pull that off, but it could be useful some day.
Naruto turned to his sensei. Certainly the man who had copied 1000 jutsu knew some good wind jutsu. "Kakashi-sensei…" The Rinnegan bearer trailed off.
Already knowing what his student wanted to ask, Sharingan wielder shook his head. "Sorry, I'm afraid I don't really know that many wind jutsu either. The wind element is quite rare outside of the Land of Wind, and a lot of the wind techniques I've seen don't require hand signs, so I couldn't copy them." The copy ninja's gaze rose to the sky. "My skills with the wind element are pretty negligible, but I did learn one good jutsu over the years."
Naruto's shoulders slumped. "Just one?"
Kakashi nodded. "Afraid so, but I know a guy who's quite skilled with in the wind element who might be able to help you. And you could always head to the library and pick out some jutsu scrolls, right?"
"Yeah." Naruto replied with another sigh. "Well, what can you tell me? Can you give me some examples of what kind of techniques are out there?"
"Wind is a very versatile element. Depending on how you use it, it can either create powerful blunt force attacks or precision attacks that deal cutting and slashing damage. There are also various ways you can manipulate air currents." Kakashi explained.
"Could I create tornadoes? Or maybe make walls of wind to block attacks?" Naruto asked, his enthusiasm returning.
"Depends. If you mean full sized tornadoes, those would be S-class, or in some cases, forbidden jutsu." Zabuza replied.
As the four continued talking about elements, Sakura sighed. Hearing all this reminded her of what Haku had said to her on the second day of their taijutsu training. That she was the only one on the team who did the bare minimum of what her teachers demanded of her, aside from bookwork. The young kunoichi thought back to the rest of their conversation. She still hadn't found it; a reason to fight that exists in the present. Though she had to wonder, how would her father feel about how she turned out? Would he be proud of her? Or would he worry or even be disappointed because of her lack of effort? She looked up as she heard Zabuza end the conversation. "Ok, we're burning daylight, here. Haku, get back to training the girl." He said before his gaze fell to Naruto. "And I've got something special in mind for you today, brat. Come on." With that, he began to lead her away as Kakashi vanished in a poof of smoke after wishing his students luck.
After saying goodbye to his sensei and Sakura, the blond took off after the demon of the mist. "So, what is it you have in mind, Zabuza-sensei?"
The demon of the mist looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "First of all, stop calling me sensei. I'm only helping you brats until the exams begin. Anyway, I've been thinking about your Shadow Clone Jutsu. Kakashi has a point about the strain it causes, but it's a waste not to take advantage of your ability to produce clones in mass numbers. Kakashi agreed it'd be best provided we keep them in small numbers, for now."
Naruto's stopped walking as his eyes lit up. "You mean you're going to let me use my clones to train hundreds of times faster?" He'd already secretly been using his clones to speed up his chakra control training outside of their sessions. He was dying to push it to the limit and see just how fast he could progress with them.
"I said 'small numbers', brat. I was thinking more like thirty. You should be able to handle that well enough."
Naruto jumped into the air. "All right! I'll be the strongest ninja who ever lived in no time! I-"
"Quiet! Would it kill you to learn some restraint?" Zabuza questioned, causing the blond to immediately stop. "That's something else we'll have to work on." He doubted he'd be able to completely curb the blonds' exuberance, but he hoped he'd at least be able to get the brat to quiet down. He was showing some progress in reining in his brashness, though routine beatings tended to do wonders for that.
A silence fell over the jonin and his temporary student. As they walked, the blonds' gaze fell to the ground and became contemplative. After a few moments, his head rose as he began to voice a question that he'd been thinking about since they're return. "Hey, Zabuza."
"Hm?" The former mist ninja turned his head to look at the blond.
"I've been wondering… what could I have done differently back at the bridge in Wave?" Zabuza came to a halt at hearing this and the young Uzumaki followed suit.
Turning around, the masked ninja folded his arms and tilted his head to the side. "Oh?" he raised a non-existent brow in interest. "And what brought this on?"
"Well…" Naruto began. "I've been thinking about how that fight went down…" Remembering how close Haku and Zabuza had also come to death, Naruto quickly raised his hands defensively. "I mean, not that I'm upset with how things turned out! But…" His gaze fell back to the ground as he ran through that battle in his mind again. Having Zabuza and Haku around served as a constant reminder of that day, of the mistakes he'd made. "Back there at the bridge… I tried to help, but I just wound up making everything worse. I walked right into an obvious deathtrap… and…" This was what weighed heaviest on his mind. His hand clenched as this thought came to the surface. "I nearly got myself and Sasuke killed. I… I can't let that happen again. If someone got killed… because of a mistake I made…" His fist tightened at his side to the point it trembled. He was willing to do just about anything to grow so that he never had to experience that again. To have a comrade and, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, a friend, die before him, especially not when it was his fault. He had acted reluctant to listen to Zabuza at first, but that had been because he was a bit frustrated by Kakashi dividing them up and by the demon of the mist's dressing down of his skills. He hadn't wanted to go to the library at first because he had thought it would be time better spent training, and admitted he had been wrong about that.
After a few moments of silence, Zabuza closed his eyes. "Well, it's good to know that you acknowledge your mistakes and are trying to grow from them." He began. "I hope you realize it's unrealistic to think that, no matter how much you grow, that you'll be able to save everyone." Seeing Naruto look up at him, he continued. "To do that, you'd have to be perfect. And no matter how many fools out there seek it or make that claim, no one can be perfect. You won't always be able to protect everyone you want to, and no matter how much you grow, you will make mistakes."
"… Yeah, I know." Naruto finally replied, having thought about this for a long time, before his eyes hardened in determination behind his sunglasses. "But that's not going to stop me from doing everything I can to protect everyone precious to me."
"And what about the rest of the village?" Zabuza inquired, causing the Rinnegan bearer's eyes to widen in shock. "I've seen how they treat you, brat. Would you protect them with the same commitment? I've seen looks like that before, and there's no chance in hell that's recent. Will you be able to defend those who scorned you for so long with the same zeal?"
"…" The blond closed his eyes and was silent for a moment under the jonin's scrutinizing gaze for a moment before looking up. "No matter how the village has treated me, there are people who have been kind to me, who are precious to me. And besides-" He grinned and gripped his headband with his thumb and index finger. "I'm a ninja of the leaf, aren't I? And I'm the one who's going to be Hokage. I'll protect them, because Konoha is my home. And someday, I'll make them change their views of me and acknowledge me for who I am!" Naruto's clenched his hand into a fist in front of him. "Because that's my dream and I never back down!"
A few seconds passed before Zabuza smirked behind the bandages the formed his mask. "Heh… well said, kid." He looked at the blond and saw the image of someone from his past. Someone who faced the same adversity, with the same dream, who'd managed to make it come true in the end, before everything suddenly went downhill years later. He tilted his head. "To get back to your original question… I'm not going to answer that. Rather, I'll ask you a similar question. Knowing what you do now, what would you do differently?"
Naruto blinked before his brow furrowed in concentration, his hand going to the back of his head as he thought back to everything he'd considered when asking himself that same question. "Well… first of all, I wouldn't have come out in the open. Before you noticed me, I would have set up my shadow clones around the bridge… and when Haku went outside the mirrors, they could have all come out at once. That could have helped Sasuke escape. Also, I should have had a shadow clone draw attention to itself, instead of coming out and announcing my presence."
"Hn." Zabuza made a sound of approval. "Good. You're improving. Listen up, I'm about to give you some important advice." Seeing the blond listening intently, he continued. "Firstly, learn to plan ahead. Being able to think on your feet and make up strategies in the heat of battle is vital, but I shouldn't have to explain to you what can happen if you rush in without thinking." Naruto nodded. "And second, while you were trapped in the mirrors, I'm guessing you got frustrated because you couldn't figure out the secret of Haku's technique and kept throwing your shadow clones at the mirrors while Sasuke was able to come up with a plan, am I right?"
Naruto winced before looking down, scratching his cheek in embarrassment. "Well…" he mumbled.
Zabuza's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What was that? Did you just say 'I want a no-holds-barred sparring session, Zabuza'?"
Naruto jerked his head back up in terror. "No!"
"Then answer the question!"
"… Yeah, you're right." Naruto finally said in resignation.
Zabuza nodded. "That's what I thought. My second piece of advice: learn to stay calm and analyze situations with a level head. That'll be tough for someone as hotheaded as you, but it's another essential skill for a ninja. Got that?" When Naruto nodded, Zabuza turned and gestured for the blond to follow. "Good, now come on. We've got work to do."
The two soon came to a riverside clearing. The masked jonin came to a stop in the center of the clearing and turned to face his temporary student. "Alright kid, do your thing. And make sure the clones have enough chakra to replace themselves a few times."
"Got it." Naruto made a familiar, cross shaped hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke burst into existence and when it cleared, thirty Naruto clones stood behind the real blond.
"Ok, listen up." The swordsmen stated to the group. "I want twenty of you to start gathering leaves. Half of those that do are to hold them to their bodies with chakra while standing on the water to improve your control. At first, I'd planned to leave it at that, but you raised a good point about the elements. Besides, the Uchiha brat's already got a handle on one of his elements and the girl has near perfect control, so you've got the most work ahead of you. Your remaining clones will divide into two groups of ten, focusing on either wind or water." He ordered before making the tiger hand sign, causing two masses of water to rise out of the river, forming clones. "My clones will oversee your efforts, now hop to it."
The clones quickly divided into their groups and dashed out of the clearing. Being the only one left, the original turned to Zabuza with a questioning look on his face. "And what am I going to do?"
A sadistic grin broke out under Zabuza's mask, setting off alarm bells in the Jinchuriki's mind. "Glad you asked, brat. Since your clones are handling chakra control and jutsu for you, you get to focus entirely on taijutsu and physical conditioning." Naruto's concern grew as Zabuza walked away. His fears were confirmed as he came back, dragging a boulder about the size of his temporary student. "You remember where Haku and the girl were using you for target practice, I hope." The blond gulped before he nodded with beads of sweat running down his face. "Good. To start, you're going to drag this boulder there and back." And the blond immediately knew that he was going to collapse the as soon as he walked through his door that night… again… if he even made it back to his home.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Haku walked through the forest. The journey so far had been silent as Sakura was lost in thought. Over the past few days, she had been contemplating Haku's words about why she chose to be a ninja and what drove her to fight. She realized that she really didn't have anything she wanted to do with what she learned. Of course, she wanted to serve her village, but she could do that other ways. Similarly, her father would probably have been proud of her even if she picked another profession. So, what was there? She wasn't the type who strived to better herself just because either, at least not unless it involved hitting the books.
Haku turned to look at her as he raised a branch out of his path. "May I ask what you're thinking of?" The pink haired girl stopped in her tracks, a shocked expression covering her features before she her gaze fell to the ground.
"I was just thinking… of what you told me earlier. You know, about my reasons for fighting and getting stronger." She replied with uncertainty. "I still haven't found anything."
The teen smiled at her. "Don't worry. Although it would be better to find motivation sooner than later, these things take time." Sakura just sighed. "Have you thought about what I said about Naruto?" Sakura's eyes returned to his face at that.
Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. "I was thinking about it, but he deserved it that time."
"I'll admit, he did kind of bring it on himself back there." Haku admitted with a sigh as he turned to face her. "But you know, he may have had a point."
Sakura threw a glare at the ice user. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you going to tell me my pursuit of true love is stupid too?"
Haku raised his hands in a placating gesture. "No no, nothing like that. I mean, maybe you're going about it the wrong way." The kunoichi's expression turned to curiosity, but retained a hint of her anger. Seeing she was interested in what he had to say, he continued. "From what I've seen, you throw yourself at him constantly, and I assume it has been this way since you first developed your crush on him."
"It's not just a crush!" Sakura insisted before sighing and directing her head toward the ground. "But yeah, I've tried everything to get his attention. I've been obvious, subtle, given him gifts, and I always make sure he knows how amazing I think he is, but he's never shown the least bit of interest."
"That's why I said he may have had a point." Sakura looked up at him in confusion. "Sakura, I take it from Naruto's comment about a fanclub that you and this Ino aren't the only ones that pursue Sasuke. Has he ever responded positively to any attempts to gain his attention from any of you?"
Sakura searched through her memories for any such occurrence. It didn't take long, as that wouldn't be something she'd forget. "Well… no…"
"Now, how do you feel when Naruto asks you out, even though you've already turned him down?"
Sakura's brow furrowed. "It's annoying. He keeps bugging me over and over again even when I keep turning him down. I mean, why can't he just take a hint? I'll admit, there are times when he's not so bad…" 'And his pranks are funny as hell!' her inner self added. Of course, she'd never say that out loud. "… But I don't think I could ever like him like that. Besides, he should be able to tell that I like Sasuke."
Haku nodded. "As I thought. Now, do you see my point?" Seeing Sakura's confused expression, he sighed and explained. "Sakura, some people don't like being fawned over, no matter how kind or flattering the praise is. Has it ever occurred to you that Sasuke might find your pursuits as annoying as you find Naruto's?"
Sakura froze, her eyes wide with horror. The thought had never occurred to her that Sasuke could find her attempts to be irritating in anyway. She had forgotten that time he called her annoying after they had been officially made a team. "But... that… I- I mean, that can't…" She stuttered as she tried to think of anything to refute Haku's statement, but found she couldn't.
"Perhaps it would be better if you toned down your attempts to win his affection a bit." Haku suggested, causing the pink haired girl to look up at him. "I don't mean stop completely, but just let him know you care, praise him when he really deserves it, not just because or over something small, and maybe you'd have a better chance."
Sakura was quiet as she thought about it for a few moments. As much as she hated to admit it, he could have a point. If Sasuke found her as annoying as Naruto, then she really would have to change tactics. After about half a minute, she finally said. "I guess I have nothing to lose." After a few moments, her eyes rose to Haku again. "I know you've been trying to improve the way Naruto acts. Why are you helping us with this?"
Haku shrugged. "I simply wish to see you function as a team more cohesively. And from what I gather, Naruto never had anyone to teach him how not to act, so I thought I might help him with it. Is that a good enough answer?" He replied and she nodded. "Alright, then come along." He said as he turned, raising the branch before him out of his way and leading her through the forest.
All was quiet as the pink haired girl was once more lost in thought, which now focused on her interactions with her teammates. Though soon, her mind wandered back to the present and she began to grow curious about where Haku was leading her.
Just as curiosity was about to get the better of her and she was going to ask again, the sound of running water reached her ears. Haku smiled as he heard the sound. "Ah, we're getting close."
Sakura found herself getting worried. The sound of violent, rushing water was growing louder as they approached. "Where exactly are we going?"
Haku turned his head just enough to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Just be patient, Sakura. We'll be there soon."
The pink haired girl began to grow worried about what the water had to do with her training as the sound grew louder and she was sure she could hear water crashing down from a great height, signifying a waterfall.
Soon, Sakura looked on with wide eyes as they stood at the edge of a river that fed into a waterfall. The water before her white due to the rapid, turbulent flow, splashing violently against the rocks and dipping and churning in various places. "Perfect. Just as Kakashi-san said."
Sakura turned to him, fear clear in her expression. "Uh… Haku. Just what are you planning?"
Haku turned to his temporary student. " Simple. The first of those exercises I mentioned earlier. Due to the resistance of the water, swimming, especially against a current, is a good way to build up muscular endurance."
Sakura paled, staring at him with wide eyes as she pointed at the violent, churning water. "You're going to have me swim in that?"
Haku shook his head. "Of course not. That would be far too much." Sakura breathed a sigh of relief before he continued. "We'll be going upstream, to the area just before the water turns white." Sakura cast him a fearful look.
"That's… not much better. Can't we just go to where the water's calmer? Or maybe a pool somewhere?" She asked hopefully.
The ice user sighed. "Sakura, I know this probably seems harsh to you, but this is the best way for you to improve quickly. From what I've been told, the chunin exams will likely have several exceptional ninja participating in it. On top of that, there are no rules against killing during the combat portion and some genin, either on their own or under orders from their village, take it as an opportunity not only for advancement, but to eliminate outstanding ninja of rival villages. There is a possibility that you'll find yourselves in a situation where all three of your skills are needed to escape with your lives or you may find yourself on your own. You need to advance as fast as you can, for your own good as well as your teammates."
Sakura seemed unsure for a moment before her eyes hardened. She remembered how helpless she felt on the bridge at Wave and the instinctive horror she felt when she saw Sasuke's unmoving self, even if she had been told he was alive. She never wanted to find herself in such a situation again. She gave him a nod. "Alright… I'll do it. You said it's not going to be … here, right?" The pink haired kunoichi said, gesturing to the turbulent water.
Minutes later, Sakura, now wearing a one piece bathing suit Haku had brought, swam, frantically, attempting to keep from slipping into the rapids just a few feet behind her position in the water.
Her lungs were burning as she struggled to keep them supplied with sufficient oxygen, a task made far more difficult by the water that constantly obstructed her breathing, and her arms and legs were beginning to feel like lead. The only reason she hadn't already given in to her exhaustion was her fear of being pulled into the blue and white maelstrom behind her. The kunoichi didn't even want to think about what would happen if she got sucked into the torrent, the image of her body being dashed against one of the many, jagged rocks briefly flashing in her mind, causing her to redouble her efforts.
"That's good, Sakura. Keep it up." Haku called out to her from a rock near her position.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? HELP ME!" Sakura screamed as she struggled against the current. 'What was I thinking? This is crazy!'
Half an hour later, she lay on the side of the river, her chest rising and falling as she breathed heavily, her eyes staring off into the sky. Her body felt as if it was on fire, except her limbs, which were completely numb. She doubted she would be able to stand up without shaking uncontrollably for at least an hour.
Haku smiled down at her. "See. Was that really so hard?"
Sakura glared at him. "If it's so easy, why don't you do it?" She grumbled. 'Cha! Let's see if you're so calm after I throw you in there!' her inner self yelled.
He blinked and raised a brow. "I did. Zabuza made me do this when I was eight years old." The pink haired girl stared at him in astonishment. "Now, as soon as you've rested up, we'll move on to the next exercise."
Sakura paled. "You mean there's more?" she whimpered.
Within one of the many training grounds that surrounded the outskirts of Konohagakure no Saito, one Sakura Haruno was going through hell.
Well, she called it hell, Haku called it training. The training she had been given sounded simple enough, she was balancing two buckets of water attached to a bamboo pole that was being carried over her shoulder, and in order to complete this level of training she needed to run through the obstacle course that Haku had created for her without spilling a drop.
Sakura shivered, nothing good ever came from spilling water. Nothing.
The kunoichi was panting, sweat running down her face as she ducked under a swinging log, the hunk of wood passing so close to her head she could feel the faint rush of the wind as it passed overhead. Fortunately, it was the last one, but she was allowed no time to breathe as she cleared this obstacle and moved towards the next one.
'Don't think about it Sakura, just keep moving.' Nothing good would come of thinking of the consequences that would befall her if she spilled a drop of water… if she stopped for a moment… if she fell… she shook her head and moved onward.
Springing a few feet into the air, she landed on the first of a long series of platforms, each about the size of her heel, all sticking out of the ground at different, random heights ranging from one foot (the one she just stepped on) to four feet. She only barely managed to maintain her balance as she touched down on the ball of her foot. Struggling to keep from falling over, her eyes widened in terror as she bent at the waist and the water in the bucket on her right sloshed, almost over the edge… before going back in and settling as she righted herself. The pink haired genin sighed in relief before something zipped past her face. Following the sound, fear painted her features as she saw two senbon sticking out of a platform, a reminder not to stop, and she quickly started to move again.
Leaping from one platform to another, Sakura struggled with her awkward footing, shifting her weight and footing almost constantly as she struggled to retain her balance and keep from spilling the water in either of her pales. Gods this sucked! Haku had told her that he had done this while training under Zabuza, only that the swordsmen had tried slicing into him with a kunai when he had undergone this kind of training. While Sakura was very glad she was not training under the Kiri swordsmen, VERY GLAD, she also felt very inadequate when hearing how hard Haku had it. How pathetic must she be if this was difficult for her? Absently, she wondered how Naruto and Sasuke would do in this. She shook off the depressing realization that they would certainly fare far better than her.
'Don't think about it. Don't think about anything else. Just get this over with so you can go home and… Oh god, he's going to make me do things like this every other… No! Stay focused!'
She was nearing the end of the raised platforms now, seeing this she prepared, and upon reaching the last platform jumped off. Channeling chakra through her legs to strengthen them, and more chakra to the bottom of her feet to act as a cushion so the water wouldn't slosh around, Sakura landed on the ground and bent her knees slightly to help absorb the shock of impact.
Dashing forward, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. This was the last challenge: countless lengths of ninja wire crisscrossing over each other, ranging from half way up her shin to just above her ankle in height. Just one more impediment and she could go home. She thanked all the deities she knew it was almost over, her legs felt like they were made of lead and they ached terribly. She would have long since collapsed had it not been for what would happen if she stopped or spilled the water.
She shivered again. 'Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Just get it over with.'
Seeing how much difficulty she was having, Haku decided to save testing her knowledge of fauna for tomorrow and let her go home as soon as she was done with this. He'd also decided to let her take it easy every other day, something she was extremely grateful for.
As she grew nearer, a feeling of apprehension grew within her. So many wires, so few spots where she would actually be safe… she shook her head, clearing her mind of such thoughts. She couldn't stop to try to figure out the safest way through, all she could do was trust in her luck and move forward.
Taking the first step into the wire field, she leapt into the air, seeing no area nearby with enough clear space for her to stick her foot without it getting caught. She landed on her left foot, narrowly avoiding the wires that threatened to trip her. Repeating the process, she made it halfway through, the end clear in sight… when suddenly; she felt something catch her leg. Looking down, she saw an almost invisible thread that had been hidden in the shadow of another, pulling on her leg as she fell forward.
'Oh, COME ON!' she wailed in her mind, struggling to maintain her balance. Stumbling forward, she spied a space before her with enough room to take a step and managed to catch herself, but the water in the right bucket, jolted by her jerky movements, splashed over the side. She watched in horror as about a handful of the clear liquid fell to the ground.
'NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!' The pink haired girl's eyes followed as the water hit the ground with an almost inaudible splash. The world seemed to stop dead in its tracks for her the feeling of dread increased. One heartbeat later, time resumed as barrages of senbon flew at her from four different directions.
Her scream echoed throughout the area.
The pink haired genin winced as she wearily pulled a needle out from her arm, one of the last of the dozens that riddled her body mere moments ago. Seeing as the girl was unable to make it on her own after being punished for failing the exercise, Haku had helped her reach the end of the course and aided in removing the needles. Sakura hadn't said a word throughout this, the fear of pushing the needles deeper into her skin being the only thing keeping her from simply dropping to the ground.
Tossing the last needle she could remove without taking anything off to the ground, before falling backwards and lying spread eagle. After a few moments of catching her breath, doing her best to ignore the pain the remaining needles caused her, she leveled a glare almost worthy of the object of her affection at the ice user. That whole ordeal had to have been the single worst experience of her life and she'd probably be screaming at Haku like she often did at Naruto were she not completely exhausted.
Haku, of course, had the sense not to say anything beyond 'let me help', seeing that the girl's anger of that ending was like an explosive tag waiting to go off.
"Y- you're as sadistic as Zabuza." Sakura accused.
Haku shook his head. "That's not true at all." He then shrugged. "As I said, I'm only doing this because it's the fastest way to make you stronger. My master would have enjoyed every moment of seeing you suffer." There was no use in trying to deny this. They both knew it was true. "You know this is for the best."
Sakura's inner self raged within her mind, screaming out obscenities and promising to make Haku experience the same hell she had, and for once they were in perfect unison, but she was far too tired to vocalize her fury, so she settled for, "Screw You!"
Haku raised a brow. "So you'd prefer I take it easier on you or train you as you told me Kakashi did prior to meeting us… and risk you not being prepared for the Chunin Exams or the next time you run afoul a missing ninja?" Sakura was silent. As much as it pained her to admit it, thinking of the events in Wave, she knew this was probably necessary. After letting her contemplate this for a few moments, he spoke up again. "Do you need any help?"
Sakura gained a slight smirk.
"You know, if you had asked my master to do this, he'd probably have tossed you back in the river." Haku said as he carried her, piggy back style, through the village to her home.
"Shut up and keep walking."
Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha with Haku, pointing out places the teen hadn't seen yet as they went along. He and his team had just finished a few D-rank missions. Walking dogs and de-weeding a garden, not exactly a jobs befitting a ninja, but they needed to complete a certain number of missions before they could qualify for the Chunin Exams. They reported to the Hokage for their pay and went their separate ways. The blond had wandered the village for a while, debating on whether or not he should take the rest of the day off aside from some practicing his chakra control and wind manipulation at home, or if he should do some more training. However, when he ran into Haku, he decided it be a good idea to show him to Yamanaka Flowers as they had talked about earlier. He needed fertilizer for his potted plants and, even if it wasn't his style to use such things, he was curious to know if they actually sold poisonous plants and medicinal herbs.
It was nice, giving a friend a tour of the village. Though he didn't want to tell Haku, or anyone for that matter, about his status as a Jinchuriki, Haku was someone who could sympathize with the way his life had gone, though he was aware that there was nothing he could compare to the tragedy that had occurred when the older boy's father had discovered his bloodline.
However, he had one distinct misgiving about the situation. To his chagrin, Haku was dressed casually. In other words, he was dressed in that pink kimono and was wearing his hair down, making it impossible to tell his true gender.
"Well, this is the place." Naruto indicated as they came upon their destination. A two story tall, traditional eastern style building with rows of potted flowers on either side of the door. To the upper right of the door was a pink sign with the name of the shop.
"So I see." Haku replied, looking at the sign briefly before turning to Naruto and seeing the blond walking into the open door and followed.
Stepping into the shop, the two looked around briefly, the sweet smell of the countless flowers reaching them as they passed through the threshold. While Naruto turned his gaze to the front counter, Haku scanned the plants, identifying many of them, though his knowledge of plants without useful properties was limited.
Sitting at the counter, Ino rested her head in her right hand, her arm propped up on the table. It was a fairly slow day and the blonde was looking decidedly bored due to the lack of customers. She enjoyed tending to and being among the flowers, but they'd all been taken care of and watching the shop could be monotonous on slow days like this.
Hearing someone enter, she perked up and looked towards the entrance and saw Naruto and someone she'd never seen before. It seemed to be a girl, one Ino had to admit was nearly as pretty as her, though something seemed to be off that she couldn't quite place. Still, it intrigued her how Naruto knew this person She raised her hand and waved at the two. "Hey, Naruto."
Naruto grinned as he ran over to the desk with Haku trailing behind, examining the many flowers. "Hey, Ino. How've things been?"
"Eh, you know how Shikamaru and Choji are. A slacker who would rather gaze at clouds more than anything that takes effort and a glutton who'd spend all day stuffing his face with snacks, I pretty much have to force them to do anything. And our jonin leader: Asuma-sensei's really laid back, so he's no help at all."
Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, I know all about laid back senseis. Kakashi-sensei was too until the Hokage let him have it over it."
Ino raised a brow. "Really? Wish the old man would chew our sensei out." She replied before raising an eyebrow. "What's with the sunglasses?"
Naruto grinned and adjusted his shades with his right hand. "Nice huh? I think they make me look cooler. Plus, they protect my eyes from things like flash bombs." It was a decent excuse, and one that sounded a lot like him.
Ino blinked, surprised Naruto would think about the advantages the sunglasses could bring. "Hn. Smart thinking. And I have to agree, they do improve your look, though that's not really saying much." She said, chuckling at his enraged response before resting her head back on the palms of her hands. It was hard to look good in a bright orange tracksuit. Not to mention the fact that such a bright color was impractical for a shinobi. "So, what's it like being on a team with Sasuke? It must be easy with him on your side."
"Can we not talk about him?" Naruto grumbled in annoyance, not wanting to talk about his rival, especially not with the way Ino worded the question, like he was so much better than him and Sakura.
"Oh fine." Ino replied with a sigh, resting her head against the palm of her hand and averting her gaze. "I'm not surprised you don't want to talk about it." she pretended not to notice the Jinchuriki was looking at her curiously and trying not to smirk. "I mean, it's gotta be tough, being on the same team as the girl you have the crush on… and the guy she's madly in love with. I bet you're feeling like the odd man out, watching Sakura flirt with him all the time."
Naruto crossed his arms and frowned at the blonde kunoichi. "It's not like it's any different than before."
"So Forehead hasn't made any progress with Sasuke? Good to hear. Was that so hard?" Ino smirked at Naruto's response, her smirk widening when her fellow blond groaned and brought his hand to his face, realizing he'd been had. "So, what are you here for anyway? Hoping to score a date with the new girl?"
That got Haku's attention. The androgynous teen turned to Ino, a hint of amusement in his eyes while Naruto gave her a blank stare. "What?" was all the Jinchuriki could say.
Ino's smirk widened. "Oh, so you're not showing her around hoping to score?"
Naruto turned green as his mind processed what Ino was saying. "ACK! NO! I DON'T-! I-! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!"
Ino looked surprised at Naruto's horrified response before she heard muffled snickers coming from Haku, who was covering his mouth in an attempt to suppress his laughter. After a moment, he calmed down and stepped forward. "I should probably introduce myself." He said as he extended his hand to shake hers. "My name is Haku. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ino."
Ino smiled, still curious about Naruto's violent reaction to her assertion, and shook the ice user's hand. "Likewise."
Haku's smile widened. "And by the way, I'm actually a boy."
Ino blinked before her whole body jerked nearly falling out of her chair as her expression morphed into one of pure shock. "WHAT? NO WAY, ARE YOU SERIOUS?" That had to be a joke. There was no way this guy was a boy. He was prettier than her biggest rival, Sakura. Almost as pretty as her! Her reaction caused Haku to chuckle slightly.
"Yeah… I made the same mistake when I met him." Naruto grumbled before giving the clearly amused Haku a slightly annoyed look. "Oh haha, laugh it up. You think this is a riot, don't you?"
The former missing-nin turned to Naruto, still smirking. "Well, it's always amusing to see how people react when they find out I'm not what they think I am, though it does get a bit tiring with how many people make that mistake."
Ino just stared at him. Now that she knew he was a boy, she realized this must have been what she felt was off about 'her'. Scrutinizing him, she could see subtle hints of his true gender, though they were easy to miss. She blushed, noting he was rather attractive now that she knew he was a boy. "You know, you're choice of clothing really doesn't help." she pointed out.
He shrugged. "I know, but I find this comfortable."
Ino shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "So, what are you here for? Need some more fertilizer for those plants you got from us, or maybe looking for a new one?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I'm not looking for anything new today. And Haku came along because he was curious about this place and if you could order plants that could be used for medicine or poison."
Ino turned to Haku. "So, you're a ninja, then?"
Naruto grinned. "Yeah, he's an awesome ninja. Sasuke and I fought him together and we could barely even touch him."
Ino's eyes widened. "He's that good?" she asked in astonishment, finding it hard to believe anyone could beat her crush. "Wait you were fighting? Why?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, he and his sensei: Zabuza were hired to kill our client, but it all turned out all right in the end."
The two began to explain the events of the Wave mission, leaving out certain details, like Naruto's Rinnegan. Ino was shocked to hear that the ice user had defeated Sasuke so handily and was curious about his bloodline. Though they had mentioned it, they hadn't said much about his ice style, besides the fact that it was powerful enough to overwhelm the two genin. She was more than a little intimidated with their description of Zabuza and a little shocked to hear that the two had joined the village, but she'd heard of missing-nin joining other villages before. Ultimately, she decided she liked Haku, despite her slight fear of his master. He was definitely a nice guy, considering he directly defied his master's wishes by going out of his way to spare his enemies.
"Wow. Fresh out of the academy and already saving a country? You guys are making the rest of us look bad." Ino shook her head with a smirk while Naruto grinned before turning to Haku. "Well, it's a little late, but welcome to the village."
"Thank you. I think I'll be happy here." Haku replied as Naruto went to find some fertilizer for his potted plants.
"Naruto said you were interested in medicinal herbs and poisons right?" Ino inquired and Haku nodded. "Well, it's true; we do sell things like that. But they're kind of expensive. And though we can special order some rare ones, for the best stuff, you'll need access to the village's supply… or grow your own." She added as an afterthought. "Do you have anywhere to keep them?"
"Not really. Once my probation's over, I hope to do missions until I can afford someplace to keep them, but that's far off. I just wanted to know in advance and maybe purchase a few to produce salves and provide practice for Sakura."
Ino tilted her head to the side. "For Sakura? Are you helping them out in their training?"
Haku nodded. "Yes. It's the least my master and I can do after what happened in Land of Waves."
Before Ino could respond, Naruto returned with a bag of compost. "Ok, this should be enough to last a while."
Ino took the bag as she glanced at the Ice user. "Do you know what you're looking for?" Haku nodded and handed her a list. She took it but rung up the bag before looking at it.
"That'll be 150 Ryo." Ino told Naruto, holding out her hand as Naruto pulled out his frog wallet, handing her the amount. Once she finished with his purchase, she handed the blond the bag, change and recite before reading over the list Haku provided her. "… I have some of that. Hang on." She said as she stood up and walked into the back, taking a few plants before returning to the front of the shop and getting some chrysanthemums before returning to the desk and returning to ring up Haku's purchase. Though he couldn't be sold anything poisonous until his probation was over, there was no such restrictions on medicinal herbs.
"So, you and your master are helping them out, huh? That's a definite edge over the other teams. You guys up to anything special?" She asked, fishing for information.
Haku chuckled. "I'm fairly certain Sakura hates me right now. I've been pushing her really hard, but it's how I was taught. My master was harder on me and harsh methods tend to bring faster and better results."
Ino waved her hand in a dismissive fashion. "Ah, I'm sure your exaggerating. If your sensei's anything like mine, it wouldn't surprise me if forehead wasn't used to intense training, but what could you possibly put her through that would be that bad?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised. She usually collapses after our training's over."
The Yamanaka raised a brow. "That so?" her gaze turned to Naruto. "How about you? Who's focusing on you, your sensei or his?"
"His … let's just say Haku's not exaggerating when he calls his methods harsh… actually, that's probably an understatement." Naruto grumbled that last part. "What about you? Up to anything special?" He asked, changing the subject. He knew better than to give away their secrets.
"Oh, no." Ino shook her head. "Just the usual. I envy you guys a little. Like I said, my sensei hasn't been much help at all. Aside from teamwork exercises, we've pretty much been doing what we were before we graduated." She said before taking on a thoughtful expression. "But that might be because we're all using our clan's unique styles." It was true that their families were better suited to teach them their clan's arts, so she supposed it was understandable that Asuma felt it was best to leave it to them. Still, it wouldn't hurt if he helped them broaden their horizons. She turned back to the register. "All right, that's 400 ryo."
"Thank you." Haku said as he paid and accepted his purchase. "You know, I've always been interested in flowers. Perhaps you could tell me the meanings of the many flowers in your shop later."
Ino smiled, surprised to find a boy with that much interest in flowers. "Sure. Come by anytime. Who knows, maybe we'll see more of each other outside the shop too." She winked at the end. Her heart may have been set on Sasuke, but she always enjoyed a little harmless flirting/teasing.
Haku blushed, averting his gaze to the side as he raised his hand, scratching the side of his head. His expression made it clear he was unaccustomed to such advances, even harmless ones.
Then again, that was hardly surprising. He and Zabuza had traveled constantly, staying in the wilderness most of the time or in the guest quarters of whatever crime lord they happened to be working for. "Yes. That would be nice."
He then followed Naruto, who headed toward the door. The Rinnegan bearer turned his head to look at his fellow blond out of the corner of his eye. "See you later, Ino."
"See ya. Don't be a stranger."
Sakura lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling as she was lost in a sea of her own thoughts. At the moment, her teammates dominated her mind.
She may have agreed with Haku that her previous methods to gain Sasuke's attention weren't working, but, though she acknowledged the possibility, she still had a hard time believing she could possibly be as annoying as Naruto. However, as she continued to think about it, comparing how she acted towards Sasuke to how Naruto acted towards her, and the responses they got, she came to realize that he was probably right.
Whenever she and her competition tried to vie for the Uchiha's attention in the academy, he'd either go out of the way to avoid them or respond with cold indifference. Sure, they may have seen this as an aspect of his allure and she thought that, though more than a little hurtful, the way he acted was cool, it was also a clear sign that he didn't have any interest in their efforts to win his heart.
Comparing the way she acted towards Sasuke to the way Naruto acted towards her had led to another line of thought. Did her constant rejections hurt him as much as Sasuke's dismissal did her?
That was a sobering thought. Thinking about how they might feel also made her realize that she didn't know that much about either of her teammates. She had never cared enough to learn more about Naruto, and Sasuke kept everything to himself. She knew they were both orphans, but though she knew Naruto had always been alone, she knew little about how Sasuke lost his family. No one liked to talk about the Uchiha massacre. She wondered how much she didn't know about the raven haired boy, recalling that time when they took the bell test, when he'd told her about that time he was crying and those two times he'd alluded to someone he wanted to kill.
What she did know about Naruto gave her pause. Most of the adults in the village seemed to hate him. Looking back, with the exception of Iruka, all their senseis tended to be biased against him, even considering his annoying habits and pranks. Haku had been right days ago; pranks alone wouldn't have been enough to cause the villagers to treat him this way. But, what could a 12 year old have done to deserve such enmity? How long had he faced such prejudice?
'And how long have I been making it worse?' She winced at that thought, sitting up and staring into space. Like Haku had said, he was her teammate and he would risk his life to protect her. And how did she treat him in return? She constantly insulted and belittled him, doing so with greater intensity when he asked her out on a date. When she thought about it, it was actually probably worse for him. He had no family to fall back on, and, hurtful as Sasuke's rejections were, he rarely insulted her and never hit her, like she did to the blond on a regular basis. She turned to look at the picture on her nightstand. It was a group photo taken when Team Seven first formed. She was standing in front, a smile on her face while Kakashi stood in the back, a giving his eye-smile and resting his hands on his two male student's heads. Sasuke looked aloof and uncaring as always, while Naruto glared at his rival. As she stared she continued to wonder, what went on through their heads.
After a few moments, she stood up, ignoring the protests from her body which still ached from the previous days training, and walked outside her room and down her hallway. As she stepped into the main room of her family's apartment, her mother, who was standing before the sink, washing dishes, looked up and smiled.
Sakura's mother, Sayuri Haruno, was a woman in her mid-thirties with fair skin and long pink hair and green eyes matching her daughter's. She wore a red blouse with a matching skirt.
"Hey, sweetheart." Her mother greeted. "I was just thinking of checking on you. You've had me worried, you know."
"I know." Sakura replied, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "You don't need to worry so much; I'm not a little girl anymore."
The pink haired woman chuckled. "I know. But you'll always be my little girl." She said. "You hungry?"
Sakura shook her head. "Not right now."
Sayuri gave Sakura a worried glance. "You're not dieting again, are you?"
"No, I don't do that anymore."
Sayuri smiled and returned to the dishes, pulling one out of the sink and scrubbing with a rag. "How've things been with your team?"
Sakura groaned. Leaning forward and resting her head in her hands as thoughts of her new training routine filled her mind. She shuddered slightly as she recalled the aftermath of her last session with Haku. She hadn't even been able to make it home on her own. She was lucky Haku allowed her to a days rest between rigorous exercises. Honestly, how did he and Naruto survive training under Zabuza? "Hard. Kakashi-sensei used to be really easy going most of the time. Ever since we got back from the Land of Waves, he, Zabuza and Haku have been driving us harder and harder. I'm not sure if I can keep this up."
Her mother turned to look at her out of the corner of her eye. "Haku? That nice boy you were telling me about? From what you've told me, he can't be that bad."
"Don't forget who trained him." Sakura responded. "He's teaching me the same way he was taught." She said with a sigh. "I guess I can't complain. He does let me rest every other day. And at least I wasn't stuck with Zabuza…" She shivered at that thought. Zabuza managed to run even Naruto, who seemed to have boundless energy, ragged. And on the occasions when they trained together, Zabuza didn't pull any punches. She didn't even want to think about what the masked ninja would do to her.
Sayuri turned back to her daughter, giving her a daughter a warm expression. "I still can't believe how that mission turned out. Fresh out of the academy and part of a team that saved a whole country. Your father would be so proud if he could see you now."
The kunoichi slumped in her seat. "No he wouldn't… I didn't do anything. It was all Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei and Naruto."
Sayuri gave the genin a supportive look. "Your father would be happy that you came back alive. I may not be a ninja, but from what he told me, even being a part of such a mission so early in your career is incredible. And you're just starting out. I'm sure you'll be an incredible kunoichi one day."
Sakura smiled at her mother's encouragement and a silence fell over the two. The pink haired girl's thoughts turned back to her team and then it hit her. Her mother may know things about her teammates that she didn't. After a few more moments, she turned in her seat and spoke. "Mom. What happened to Sasuke?"
The woman faced her again. "Hm? What do you mean? And why are you asking me?"
"Because I don't really know that much about what he's been through. I know he lost his family, but no one wanted to talk about it, so I don't really know how that happened. He seems so distant. I know losing everyone like that would hurt, but it's like there's more than that."
Sayuri frowned. There was more. Most of the children knew of the massacre, but as Sakura said, it was a dark subject most didn't want to discuss. It was rumored among the younger generation that it was one of their own who did the deed, but none of the children even suspected it was Sasuke's own older brother. With a sigh, she answered, "Don't you think that's something you should be asking him? I don't think it's my place to tell you about your teammate's past." She said before picking up another dish and scrubbing.
The young kunoichi looked disappointed before she spoke again. "Well, what about Naruto?" She was shocked when her mother suddenly stopped froze, a cold look flashing across her face before she turned to her, her expression neutral.
"What about him?" Sayuri asked.
Sakura became slightly nervous at the change in her mother's demeanor. "Well, I've noticed most people around the village glare at him when we walk by, and aside from Iruka and Mizuki-" the children were still unaware of the exact circumstances of the silver haired chunin's disappearance. "- most of the teachers seemed to have something against him."
Sayuri closed her eyes and considered how to respond. She really didn't like that her daughter was on the same team as the young Jinchuriki and wanted to warn her, but she knew better than to break the Third's law. "Don't worry about him." She said, turning to her daughter and giving her a concerned look while Sakura looked puzzled. "Look, that boy… he's dangerous, ok? I know he's a member of your team and you have to work together, but try to avoid him when you can, all right?"
Sakura's brow furrowed as she stared at her mother. "Why? I mean, how could he be dangerous? The worse he's ever done is pulled pranks across the village."
Sayuri sighed. "I wish I could say more, Sakura. I really do. Just, please, avoid associating with him as much as you can. He's more dangerous than you could possibly know." She said, turning to the dishes and glaring into the sink as she muttered. "I still can't believe Lord Hokage allowed him to become a ninja."
Sakura's expression hardened at her mother's words. Thoughts of the events in Wave, of how Naruto refused to give up and abandon their sensei when Zabuza captured him, of how he reacted to Inari's past and how he inspired and connected with the boy, entered her mind. She unconsciously balled her hand, forming a firmly clenched fist. Did he really face this kind of treatment all the time? Why? What could possibly make the so much of the village feel this way towards him? Sure, he was annoying, and he'd probably played some trick on at least half the village, probably a lot more, but he couldn't deserve this. Her head fell forward, her hair falling forward and hiding her eyes in shadow. "Mom…"
"Hm?"
"Why would you say that? Do you even know him?"
Sayuri faced her once again, raising a brow. "What?"
The kunoichi stared intensely at her mother as she straightened up. "I said 'do you even know him?'. Do all the adults feel like that? How long has he been treated this way?" Her gaze grew more intense as she continued. She could feel anger beginning to bubble up inside her from these realizations, but that anger wasn't directed entirely at her mother. Part of it was at the village. Sure, she may not particularly like Naruto, but no one deserved to be treated that way. And part of it…
… Part of it was at herself, for not seeing it sooner and treating the blond so poorly, especially when you factor in how hypocritical it was of her.
"Sakura…"
"What is it? If there's really something so bad about him, why can't you answer?"
Sayuri met her daughter's defiant stare for a few moments before removing her gloves, stepping over to her and placing her hands on her shoulders. "Listen." She said, knowing that, from Sakura's perspective and with her knowledge, it did seem unjust. "I know it might seem unfair… but please just listen to your mother on this. That boy is trouble. I'm only worrying about your safety."
Sakura's face twisted in anger as she shot up, brushing her mother's hands aside. "I'm telling you, you don't need to worry. He wouldn't hurt either of us." Well… he'd certainly like to beat the crap out of the object of her affections, but he would never do anything serious or permanent, and if they were in danger, she knew from the events in Wave that he would do everything he could to protect them.
Sayuri frowned, growing frustrated with her daughter sticking up for that… boy… and with the Third's Law. She still couldn't understand why he wanted to hide the Jinchuriki's true nature from those who he'd be around the most. Who would be in the most danger. "Sakura, you don't know who he really is. Don't take his side in this. Just listen to me."
"Then explain it to me!" She said, getting fed up with all the secrecy.
"I can't!" The woman almost snarled. "I'd like to but I can't!" she growled as she averted her gaze. "I wish I'd never let you follow after your father."
"Why, just because I ended up on Naruto's team?" Her mother's heated look was all the answer she needed. Her anger peaked at this realization. Normally, she would have questioned why she couldn't tell her, and later this would occur to her, but right now she was too angry. "What could possibly be so bad about him that you would regret letting me be a ninja just because it puts me near him?"
"Sakura…"
"Sure he's annoying and obnoxious. He's far from the smartest and he's not cool like Sasuke. He's probably pulled one over on most of the village and he never shuts up about how he's going to be Hokage. But… but that doesn't mean he should be treated like some kind of monster!" She said, meeting her mother's shocked gaze. She had to say, she never thought a day would come when she'd be defending the knucklehead. "Naruto's brave. He never gives up and he won't stop fighting for what he believes in! You weren't with us at Wave. You didn't see how he affected the people of the country. How he fought against hopeless odds to save our sensei when we could have run or how he inspired a boy who'd lost his hero. Why? What could possibly justify the way you and the rest of the village see him?"
A loud smack echoed through the room as Sayuri's anger finally boiled over, causing her to strike her daughter. Sakura's head was turned to the side by the impact before she righted herself and stared at her mother with wide eyes. The woman herself seemed to realize what she'd done as her expression turned from anger to shock.
"Sakura…" she reached for her daughter, only for the young kunoichi to turn and run back to her room. "Wait, Sakura!" but she closed the door behind her. After a moment of stunned silence, Sayuri's gaze turned cold and she clenched her fist. Even when he wasn't present, that boy caused trouble!
Meanwhile, Sakura leaned against the door, unable to understand what just happened. Why would her mother possibly hate her teammate so much. Briefly she considered… if it was enough to make her mother act in such a manner… was there really some secret that could justify all this?
As she thought of that, memories of the blond, his better moments and the things she'd seen of him in wave flashed through her mind and she immediately shook off such doubts. Even if there was some dark secret surrounding Naruto, it couldn't possibly be a good enough reason to warrant such loathing. Knowing now the kind of resentment most of her village held for him, she resolved to try to be nicer to the blond from now on.