(A/N: Hello. I'm sorry for the delay but as you all might have read I was on a vacation and I couldn't write my stories there but now I'm back with this chapter. You all know the drill, read and review. Now go and read this chapter.)

Chapter 4

Naruto went downstairs and called team seven and eight to the living room. "I have something to tell you all. Kakashi-san told me that Zabuza might still be alive and will probably attack in a week's time with the fake hunter-nin who took him away." This got Sasuke excited. He really wanted the sword that Zabuza had.

Sakura got scared about the prospect of fighting Zabuza again as she fainted from the killing intent that Zabuza sent at them. Sai looked as passive as ever. Team eight didn't show much emotion as they had been trained to not show much emotion but there still were slight but clear signs of their nervousness.

"That just means that we have to up your training. Team seven what has Kakashi-san taught you?" Naruto ordered them to tell. "Kakashi-sensei hasn't taught us anything but teamwork exercises." Sakura said causing Naruto to become pissed at Kakashi's laziness even though he figured that their training would have been quite minimal but this! Sending a team on a C-rank mission without any kind of proper training usually ends in the death of the team at least that's what Naruto had heard.

"Everyone get outside now!" Naruto yelled at the two teams who quickly complied and left the house. "Kurenai could you Protect Tazuna while I start training the genin?" Naruto asked Kurenai who came from Kakashi's room just before Naruto told teams to get out. "Sure but don't be too rough on them." Kurenai said and went to get Tazuna while Naruto went outside.

When they were outside Naruto said "Now team seven, you have to walk up a tree without using your hands." Naruto then showed how it's done causing Sakura to release a silent 'whoa' and Sasuke to frown even more.

"I don't need to know how to walk up trees. I can't see how that would help me get revenge." Sasuke said. "This exercise will get your chakra control up and with that you can make your jutsus more powerful with less chakra used." Naruto said.

Sasuke lost all of his reluctance when he heard that. He would have run to a tree to try the exercise if it wasn't for Naruto who grabbed him from the shirt. "Now where are you going? You don't even know what to do." Team eight chuckled at Naruto's response.

"Then tell me how to do it?" Sasuke asked; annoyed by wasting time not training. "Just put some chakra beneath your feet and walk up it. If anyone of you manages to go to the top of the tree then walk up and down until you can't walk anymore. And if I find that you have been slacking…" Naruto left his threat hanging causing Sakura to gulp loudly. Sai just smiled creepily. Sasuke didn't care as he was going to give his best anyway.

Naruto took out three kunais and threw them before team sevens feet "What are you waiting for? Take the kunai to mark where you can reach and start doing it!" Naruto shouted and motioned team eight to follow him.

He didn't get very far when he heard Sakura yell that she did it. "Sakura, I told you if you're done repeat the exercise." Naruto said with a perfect monotone while walking away from them. She immediately complied.

Naruto took team eight to a lake. There he said to them "Today I'm going to teach you how to walk on water." Naruto said and demonstrated it by walking to middle of the lake and back. "All you have to do is the same you do in tree-walking exercise but with more chakra. Now go." He said and made over hundred shadow clones to train with.

They trained four hours and during that time Shino managed to walk slowly on water for ten minutes, Hinata could do the same for twenty-five minutes and Kiba could barely walk on water for five minutes. Sakura was more tired than she had ever been on her life. Whenever she would try to stop training Naruto came and used a low-powered jutsu on her. Sasuke was drenched in sweat as was Sai as both of them had trained really hard.

Right now Naruto, Kurenai, Kakashi, teams seven and eight were eating with Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari who was Tsunami's son. He was all gloomy like Sasuke. After they were done Kakashi and Kurenai took the team to train and Naruto went to the bridge to protect Tazuna.

On the bridge Naruto asked that could he help in the making of the bridge. Tazuna was confused by how Naruto could protect him and help the construction at the same time. The answer was Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruto had created one hundred of them and sent seventy of them to help with the bridge while the rest thirty would help Naruto with the protection.

When the sun was setting Tazuna decided to call it a day but before he and Naruto could leave Naruto did another hundred shadow clones and told them to guard the bridge from any thugs that Gatou might send.

Back at the house team seven had just finished their training. Sakura looked like she was ready to collapse and was covered in dirt. Sasuke and Sai looked only slightly better. Naruto and Tazuna came inside and the Naruto asked "What happened to you?" Only answer he got was a creepy fake smile from Sai and a grunt from Sasuke. Soon after that team eight came back.

Naruto saw that team eight was in little better condition. They didn't have any bruises or dirt but they were all wet. Naruto was about to open his mouth but saw the glares that team eight gave him and shut up, even though they couldn't do anything against him.

When everyone was seated and had food on their plates Naruto asked "How was your day?" Kiba was the one who answered "It was terrible, first Kurenai-sensei told us to do 75 squats, 75 pushups and pull-ups and then run for a good forty minutes. After that she sent us to practice water walking."

Sakura spoke next "Kakashi-sensei finally decided to train us properly after a talk he got from Kurenai-sensei when she asked about our training." She finished there not even bothering to tell about their training as she knew that Naruto probably already knew about it. They ate in silence after that.

At some point of the meal Tsunami's son Inari came, took some food and left back to his room.

After eating everyone did what they do on their free time. Everyone went to sleep after two hours of doing what they wanted.

Next day went like that but during the dinner Inari decided to open his mouth "Why are you fighting? Don't you realize that Gatou will just kill you?" He yelled at teams eight and seven. Naruto ignored him until Inari stated that they hadn't felt the pain that he had. Naruto rose up with his head down and his hair covering his eyes.

"You think you had it tough? Well you still got your mother and grandfather while I never knew either of my parents! And you say that I don't know pain? Well here's some new to you, I know what pain is! I probably know it better than anyone here. I have been hated from the day I was born and I was even beaten many times after orphanage threw me out! So don't you start telling me that I don't know what pain is!" Naruto yelled while subconsciously channeling Kurama's chakra causing his voice to become demonic. "Kurenai-san I'm going to train." He said and went outside.

"W-was that t-t-true what he said?" Inari asked clearly shaken by what Naruto said. Kurenai looked away and Kakashi look told that he was sad. "Yes Inari that was true though he didn't tell any individual events which aren't pretty. I know some of them as I was one of the people who stopped them." Kakashi said with a clear sad tone.

Naruto ran into the nearby forest after his 'talk' with Inari. In there he destroyed almost all the trees that he found. After he was done with letting his frustration out he sat down and went to sleep.

Naruto was having a nice dream involving him and Hinata before someone woke him up by shaking him. He grabbed the hand and threw the person down. The person had a long black hair, dark brown eyes and a body that indicated that she was female. She was wearing a light pink kimono. Naruto sighed and let her hand free.

"What is a beautiful girl like you doing here?" He asked. "I'm gathering herbs for my father." She answered with a slight blush and started to gather herbs. "Let me help you." Naruto said and also started to gather herbs. She nodded and continued her gathering. They gathered them in silence until Naruto asked "What's your name?" She answered "Haku. And yours?" "Naruto."

"Naruto-san, are you a ninja?" Haku asked. "Yes I am. You can see it from the hitai-ate I wear." Naruto said and pointed his headband. Haku just blushed; embarrassed that she didn't notice that. "Why did you become a ninja?" Haku asked. "It was because I didn't have any choice on the matter but I would have become one even if I had a choice." Naruto answered.

"My father told me that true strength comes from the will to protect your precious people. Do you have any precious people?" Naruto thought about it for a while. He thought about Hinata, Hiruzen, Kakashi and to a slightly lesser extent rest of team eight. "Yes I do Haku-chan." Naruto said and helped Haku gather rest of the herbs that she needed.

"I hope we meet again Haku-chan." Naruto said and walked back towards Tazuna's house. 'I think she wasn't gathering those herbs for her father. Those herbs were meant to heal cuts not an illness of any kind.' He thought on the way.

Back at the house Hinata was getting scared about Naruto. 'What if he has chakra exhaustion or someone killed him when he was exhausted.' Those were the thoughts that ran through her head until the door opened and Naruto came in. She immediately ran to him and hugged him.

"W-w-what t-t-took y-y-you s-s-so l-l-long? I-I-I w-w-was r-r-really s-s-scared f-f-for y-y-you." Hinata stuttered and cried. Naruto soothed her and went to sit on the couch with her. They stayed there for twenty minutes.

"Hate to interrupt you two but it's time for morning training." Kurenai said from behind them causing Hinata to jump up a bit. "See you later Hinata-chan." Naruto said, kissed her cheek and took Tazuna with him to the bridge.

Outside Tazuna's house team seven was getting some more advanced training. Kakashi told them to spar while standing on a tree.

Right now it was Sakura against Sai and Sasuke against shadow clone of Kakashi whose real self was sitting on a bench that wasn't there at the beginning of the training. He was reading an orange book.

Sakura wasn't doing well on her fight but that's what to expect for someone who doesn't train. She had numerous bruises on her and looked like she would fall unconscious in an instant even though they had sparred for only fifteen minutes.

Sasuke didn't also do well but that was because even though Kakashi was a shadow clone it was still jounin-level shinobi. Clone Kakashi dodged all attacks from Sasuke and retaliated to them.

Sasuke ducked a punch and tried to kick the clone but it dodged and sent a kick towards Sasuke. He couldn't dodge it and was sent to ground hard. He rose up slowly and then went back to spar.

At team eight's training they were sparring while standing on top of water. Kiba was sparring against Shino and Hinata was sparring against shadow clone of Kurenai.

Kiba jumped back to avoid a punch from Shino. He then jumped forward and tried to slash Shino with his slightly claw like hands. Due to this move Shino was put on defensive. Shino ducked a swipe from Kiba who overextended his swipe due to not hitting anything.

Shino capitalized this and threw a punch to Kiba's stomach. Kiba was knocked back a little but he still managed to stand on top of water. They continued like that, with Kiba often going offensive while Shino would counter them.

Meanwhile at the Hinata's spar she was doing well as the style she uses was called Jyuuken. It was good at both defensive and offensive fighting.

She sent a chakra coated palm towards the clone's chest but it dodged it. The clone knew the style so it didn't want to go in because it would be beaten in there as Kurenai wasn't good at taijutsu. Their spar went like that.

At the bridge there were again over one hundred Narutos doing different things. Most of them were guarding the bridge, about thirty were helping to build it and twenty were training. And the original Naruto was staying close to Tazuna.

One of the workers approached Tazuna and said with a shaky voice "I-I c-can't w-work h-here anymore. W-what i-if G-Gatou g-goes a-and k-kills my f-family." Tazuna looked at him and said "If that's what you wish then do it but remember that if I die and the bridge gets destroyed then you and your family will die slowly."

The man nodded shakily and ran away leaving any items he had on the bridge. Naruto used Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to create one clone to replace the man and then continued to guard Tazuna. He felt a pull in his mind and then memories of his clones that he had sent to train came back.

Half of the clones that Naruto sent to train were trying to manipulate the flames of Amaterasu but with little success. The flames were easy to create but hard to control after their creation. Half of the remaining ones were trying to create new jutsus and exercises to control chakra and elemental chakra. The remaining clones were training the jutsus so that Naruto could use them faster with or without using his hand.

After Naruto had sorted the memories he saw that it was time for him and Tazuna to go back to the house. The way back was uneventful. When they were just outside the house Naruto told that he would go in the nearby forest to train.

In the forest he tested what he had learned from his shadow clones. The clones had managed to slightly change the shape of the flames. When Naruto tried it he could almost change the shape. The clones that tried to create new jutsus only managed to create a few ideas for new jutsus but not anything that could be used also no new chakra control exercises were invented. The jutsu training clones managed to use few jutsus that Naruto had learned while helping his team.

Naruto tried the jutsus that his clones had trained at and managed to do them almost perfectly with and without using his hand. After that he started to review the ideas that his clones had thought. There was an idea for a jutsu that created spears from lightning and then shot them towards the enemy at high speeds.

Another idea was that would create nearly invisible layer of wind chakra around the casters body. It would create an armor that would hurt whoever would attack the user in taijutsu. Naruto thought how to make these ideas into reality for half hour before he decided to go back to the house.

When he got inside he saw that the genin looked even worse than yesterday. He also saw that the dinner was ready. During the dinner he asked what the genin had done during their training. Sakura told him that they did the same as yesterday except they were sticking leaves to their bodies. Hinata told that they also did the same as before while sticking leaves and other objects to their bodies with their chakra.

After the dinner Naruto told them that he would be staying outside so that he could watch the house for any assassins or thugs that Gatou might send. During his watch Hinata came to talk to him. They talked about many things and generally enjoyed each other's presence.

The next day went like the previous days except that the teams had a few extra hours of rest in the middle of training. During this break Sasuke saw Naruto training and there to spy on him.

Naruto knew that Sasuke was watching him but decided to do nothing about it. When he had finished training Sasuke came out of hiding and said "Teach me!" Naruto just looked at him and said "No." with a monotone and left.

Sasuke was furious. It was an honor to train an Uchiha like him. He would have yelled at Naruto but he still had some sense not to shout in enemy territory and just went back to the house angry.

Rest of the week went with teams eight and seven training with Naruto guarding Tazuna. During the day before Kakashi's recovery Naruto told to the remaining bridge workers to not show up tomorrow. They were confused but decided to obey.

"Why did you tell them to not come tomorrow?" Tazuna asked as they walked the way back to Tazuna's house. "Because Zabuza will arrive tomorrow." Naruto said causing Tazuna to pale.

Right now teams eight and seven were escorting Tazuna to the bridge while Naruto stayed behind to protect Tazuna's family.

Naruto decided to stay hidden so that if Gatou's thugs came they wouldn't notice him. It didn't take long when he heard Tsunami screaming and Inari yelling. Naruto approached the thugs stealthily and once he was behind them he snapped their necks.

"Do you know a safe place to hide?" Naruto asked and Tsunami nodded. "Good go there and take these clones with you. I'm going to the bridge to help my team." Naruto said, created five shadow clones and then left to the bridge.

(A/N: Done. You all know the drill by now so review if you want but it is greatly appreciated. But no flames if you think something sucks in this then tell me what sucked so I can improve it. Goodbye.)