One thing I'd like to say, I said this in Thus the Jade Rose Scatters, but I have created a YouTube channel. I currently only have one video, but I would love for you to check it out and share it with your friends. Also, I should post another video today if all goes well. I play piano and really enjoy it, so I thought I'd share it.

I hope you enjoy!

I walked up to the house of the guy who hired us. Didn't look very nice. "Um, Kenshin?" I called in. "Kenshin Maki?"

"Yes?" I heard a gruff voice call back. "That's me!"
"We're here for the job!" Raiu yelled in.

"Thank you, thank you." A white haired man walked out. He looked kind of old, he had a decent amount wrinkles, but wasn't a super old man. He didn't need a cane. He hugged the nearest person, which was Sasuke. "Thank you so much."

"Get off." Sasuke told the man, as he pushed him off.

"I'm sorry." The old man bowed as he led us into his home. It was a decent house. It had a living room with a counter separating the kitchen from the living room. There was a small hallway with two bedrooms.

"Explain everything." Kakashi said.

"I had one son. He married, and had a daughter. His wife got sick and died. He already had depression and this just made it worse. He… he…"

"I understand." I put my hand on Kenshin's. "Continue."
"Well, after that, the responsibility of raising Atsuko went to me." He continued. "Then, roughly a week ago she was kidnapped by a group of bandits. They've been terrorizing this village for years."

"Well, we will search for their camp, then retrieve your granddaughter. Is there anything else you need to tell us?"

"No, I put her appearance in the request."

"Wait," I started, before we left. "On the request you sent in, it says she's your daughter, but you just described her as your granddaughter, why-"
"Oh, sorry." He interrupted me. "Senior moment."

"Ok." I say.

We left and set up a camp of our own outside the village. The old man only had two rooms, and we didn't want to sleep in the kidnapped girl's room. We each had our own tent, with me in a hammock with a tarp over it instead. I laid there thinking about the mission. Something was off about this. If the bandits have been attacking the village, then why didn't he…

"Everybody!" Kakashi called. I rolled out of my hammock. "Time for some training." He waited for everyone to arrive before he continued. "I want to talk to you about chakra."

"But we already know about chakra, and we can already use jutsu." Sasuke said.

"Nope! You're not using it right. To release chakra means to bring out physical and spiritual energy and mix them together within your body. Based on what jutsu you use, the type and amount of chakra that is released will be different. You guys are not using Chakra effectively yet. Even if you are able to release a high amount of chakra, unless you control it properly… the jutsu will be weakened or not work at all. Then, by wasting energy, you won't be able to fight as long. These kinds of weaknesses will appear."
"So what do we do?" Raiu asked.

"Learn how to control it. Through very tough training." Kakashi replied.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"Hmm? Tree climbing!"

"Tree climbing?" Raiu asked.

"Yeah."

"What kind of training is that?"

"Well, listen until the end." Our teacher started explaining. "This isn't normal tree climbing. You'll climb without using your hands."
"Oh, I see." I said, nodding. "That'll be interesting."

"You do?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. I've done a similar thing at my house. I climb up the walls, but I use my hands, and they're probably easier than a tree." I said.

"It will be. Watch." Kakashi walked up to the tree, then walked up the tree. His body was perpendicular to the tree. That will be difficult, not only the climbing, but keeping balance. "Gather your chakra in the bottom of your feet and climb up the tree. This is something you can do once you can use chakra well. The purpose of this training is to control your chakra. First, you have to bring out your chakra in the right amounts. This is the most important aspect of using chakra, and can be difficult for even a skilled ninja. The amount of chakra needed to climb a tree is small, but exact. It is also said that the bottom of the feet is the most difficult area to gather chakra. So basically, if you learn this control, you should be able to master any jutsu." He explained. "Theoretically." He added. "The second thing you need to do is develop the stamina needed to control your chakra properly. Depending on the jutsu, controlling your chakra can be… very difficult. And a ninja will usually be gathering his chakra during battle while constantly moving. These types of situations make controlling chakra even more difficult. That's why, from this tree climbing, you must gain the stamina needed for this proper control. Well, me talking all day long isn't going to accomplish anything." He drew three kunai and threw them at our feet. "This is something you'll have to learn with your bodies. Use these kunai to mark how high you make it up the tree. Then use that mark as your goal and try to surpass it. You guys won't be good enough to just walk up the tree at first. So get some momentum and try running up the tree. Got it?" He finished.

I picked it up and made a fist with the hand holding the knife and I punched my open hand. "Yeah!" I closed my eyes, made a hand sign, and gathered chakra in my feet. My eyes snapped open. "Now!" I ran at the tree. I took three steps up the side of the tree, and then on the fourth I accidentally used too much chakra and the bark shattered. My foot slipped off of the bark and I started falling. I marked the tree and fell onto my back. I looked over and saw Sasuke landing on his feet. Show off. I looked over to where Raiu should land. He isn't there.

"This is pretty easy!" I looked up and saw Raiu sitting on a branch with the kunai stuck in the tree above him.

"It looks like the best at controlling chakra right now, is Raiu." Kakashi was looking over at him. Wait, why is he still hanging upside down?

"Nice job!" I congratulated him. "Though it makes sense, if your parents taught you the Body Flicker technique, it shouldn't be too hard to do something like this."

"Wow, just take everything away from me why don't you?"

"Really? I guess if you want. You're not too strong, especially in the chakra area, you…"

"That was sarcasm!" He interrupted me.

"I know." I smirk. I turn back to the tree. "I guess I'll be sec… wait, where's my kunai?"

An hour passed and I looked at Raiu. He was lying on the ground, drenched in sweat. "Looks like being lazy didn't pay off huh?" I asked him.

"Shut up!"

I looked back at the tree. I saw that I've basically destroyed the bark on the front. "Yeah, I'm changing trees." I turned and ran at another tree. I was able to run up it, and got pretty far. I marked it and jumped off when I felt myself slip. I started flipped, but hit my head on another tree. I fell down on my back again. I rubbed my head and I looked at the two trees. They're not too far apart, I guess I could… Hehehe. I ran up one tree, then jumped off, spinning in mid-air. I hit the other tree with my feet, starting to run up the tree. I was able to do this two more times, before I was at the top. Wow, it worked. I hugged the trunk. "I did it!" I looked over and saw Sasuke on a neighboring tree. "Oh, hi."

"Hello."

"Good job you two!" Raiu called back weakly. I saw an arm waving out from the bottom of the tree.

"How should I get down?" I said to myself. "Well, I guess that'll work." I made a hand sign and transformed. I slowly flew down and set down lightly. I released the jutsu and then looked up. "I gain a few extra inches when I do that, interesting." I suddenly sat down. "Would you look at that, my legs stopped working."

"Good job everyone!" Kakashi said while Sasuke landed next to me. "Tomorrow we'll finish the job."

"Okay." I said. "I'm going to go drag myself over to my hammock. Where's Raiu?"

"I sent him to go get us dinner." Kakashi told us.
"Awesome. Luckily my legs should work by the time dinners ready. I'll help if they start working before that." I started dragging myself back to camp. "See you!"

Please review, I love to hear your voices and what you think of my fanfiction!