Naruto was throwing clothes, equipment, and even dried rations out of his bag like they were covered in maggots. Every few moments, Naruto would grab an item, usually clothes or rations, and shake them. The strange, yet undeniably frantic, search was occasionally observed by the other members of Team 7, Tazuna, and the bridge-builder's daughter.

Sasuke was the latest witness to Naruto's strange search and eventually walked over to his panicked teammate. "What the heck are you doing?"

"I can't find my medicine! If I don't take it, my eyes will flip out and make me useless!" Naruto spoke in a rush. The orange-clad shinobi dug into a pocket and pulled out nothing. Naruto frowned.

"I'll help you look. If you are out of commission, we'll be in even worse shape than we are now," Sasuke offered to Naruto.

"Thanks!" A bit of the edge in Naruto's voice leaked away. The two boys looked for a while longer. Sasuke picked up Naruto's bag, and his grimace grew darker.

"Naruto…did you put the medicine in one of the pouches?" Sasuke asked.

"I…did," Naruto felt his heart fall to his stomach. Sasuke tossed the bag to Naruto. The Uzumaki caught his pack and forlornly ran his hand along the deep gouge in the side of the pack. "How is this going to affect the team? I remember how bad it hurt when I was little. I passed out in one of the training grounds, I think."

"We can't afford to have you pass out on us. You did pretty well against the Demon Brothers. If we're going to survive Gato's next attempt to kill Tazuna, you'll have to be able to at least keep up with me," Sasuke almost complimented Naruto.

"I'll do more than keep up with you. I'll leave you in the dust!" Naruto shot up from his chair and smiled broadly. It was clearly a challenge. Sasuke, in spite of himself, smiled back.

"We'll see about that, dobe," Sasuke responded to the challenge.

"Your sparring match will have to wait," Sakura suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. "Kakashi-sensei has woken up and wants to talk with us."

Naruto and Sasuke followed Sakura to the room where Kakashi was resting. Sakura threw a glance over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. The boys were failing in their attempt to hide their race up the stairs.

'They look ridiculous. Wait…is that how Ino-pig and I look? If that's…no wonder Sasuke-kun hasn't noticed me,' Sakura lamented.

Team Seven slipped through the door and sat down in front of their sensei.

"So…who won the race up the stairs?" Kakashi asked.

"I did!" Naruto and Sasuke declared at the same time. Naruto practically shouted. Sasuke, for his part, made his declaration in an even tone.

"Next time, I suggest getting Sakura to judge your contests," Kakashi eye smiled. "Oh, before I forget, Zabuza's still alive."

"WHAT?!" Naruto yelled in surprise. "That Hunter-nin killed him!"

"Actually, it was a very good hoax. Senbon are terrible weapons for killing targets, unless they were poisoned. I doubt the senbon were poisoned. I would have noticed when I checked Zabuza's pulse," Kakashi explained.

"Sensei…you did check Zabuza's pulse! You said he was dead!" Sakura managed, admirably in Kakashi's opinion, to keep the panic out of her voice as best she could.

"Senbon may not be good for killing, but they are excellent for hitting pressure points. The false Hunter-nin definitely put Zabuza in a near-death state. He also moved fast enough to keep me from performing a more thorough exam," Kakashi groaned as he sat up.

"Please, sensei, don't strain yourself," Sakura whispered. Kakashi sighed and laid back down.

"Kakashi, the Hunter-nin said he took the body to safeguard Mist's body disposal techniques," Sasuke spoke. "That, on the surface at least, appears to be a reasonable course of action."

"Maybe, if the Mist used special techniques. Standard Kirigakure techniques basically boil down to cutting off the head and burning the bodies. I can understand if our 'friend' wanted to keep one of his Fire Release techniques hidden, but there's no reason to hide beheading a corpse," the Copy Nin countered.

Team Seven fell silent. The first sound was Naruto groaning.

"I can't believe we got played like that."

"We may have been played, but we do have an advantage. Zabuza's return won't catch us by surprise. I will be able to move tomorrow. In the morning, I'll start you on some training. Given Zabuza's condition after the battle, plus the fake's senbon, I'd say we have a week to prepare," the Jonin further explained. "Now, go downstairs, get some food and some rest."

The next morning Team Seven followed Kakashi to a wooded clearing near Tazuna's home. Kakashi had borrowed a crutch from Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, to help the Copy Ninja teach his students.

"How are your eyes, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Good right now," Naruto answered. After a few moments of travel, the ninja came to a stop.

"Alright, we'll be training here. The exercise I'm showing you is how to climb trees," Kakashi explained.

"Climbing trees," Naruto deadpanned. "How will something I do for fun help us?"

"Because you'll be doing it without your hands," Kakashi explained as he walked towards the tree…and kept walking. Team Seven's jaws dropped as Kakashi walked halfway up the tree and back down. "Well, any pithy remarks?"

"Nothing from me, sensei," Sakura said in awe.

"So, how does this work?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, I'm glad someone got to the point. It's really simple, in theory. All you have to do is find the right balance of chakra to channel to your feet. Too little and you'll slip off. Too much and you'll rocket off," Kakashi pointed out to his students.

"But, that last one would be awesome," Naruto said excitedly. "You could totally combine walking up to the ceiling and then launching a kickass ambush by flying at the enemy at super speed!"

"Ah, but to do that, you'll have to master finding the right level of chakra. So, you'll have to work on the basics first," Kakashi pointed out. "Any other questions…or enthusiastic observations?"

"Oh! Kakashi-sensei! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted and raised his hand.

"Yes, Naruto?" Kakashi answered in a very amused tone of voice.

"Old Man Hokage told me that my Shadow Clones give me their memories when they dispel. Will that help me in this exercise?" Naruto asked.

"Absolutely! I wouldn't dispel too many at once though, you might get a head-ache," Kakashi warned.

"Whatever! Let's get started!" Naruto shouted. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"Now, take these kunai to mark your progress. I'm going back to Tazuna's home to rest. Good luck and stay alert," Kakashi said as he left his students to their own devices.

Naruto grinned broadly as dozens of Shadow Clones appeared. Sakura was amazed at her teammate's abilities, but she felt doubt worm its way into the back of her mind.

'Naruto…that's so amazing. I didn't know how easily you could this,' Sakura thought as she took in all the Naruto Clones standing about. Her gaze eventually settled on Sasuke. 'And Sasuke-kun is brilliant…what do I offer this team? I don't want to hold them back. I don't want to fall behind.'

"Just how many did you create?" Sasuke asked in surprise.

"Dunno? Thirty-something I think?" Naruto said with a casual shrug. Sasuke shook his head in amusement and turned to the tree. He was further surprised to see Sakura already charging the tree.

"Sakura?" Sasuke didn't realize he had even spoken.

"Well, come on you two! Zabuza and his partner aren't going to give us a chance to guess how many Clones Naruto can make!"

Kakashi paused mid-pushup and grinned at his student. "I'm impressed, Sakura. You beat Sasuke, a genius, and Naruto, a complete knucklehead with an unfair advantage, to the top."

"Thank you, sensei," Sakura bowed.

"Since you are so vastly superior to your teammates, I want you to accompany Tazuna to the bridge today. Keep an eye out for Gatō's thugs," Kakashi ordered as he resumed his pushups.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura responded.

"Oh, and before I forget, tell your two teammates not to overdo it too badly," Kakashi chuckled. Sakura smiled as she bowed. She headed downstairs where Sasuke and Naruto were preparing for another attempt at climbing the trees. Naruto was nursing a serious headache from 'Clone Overload.'

"Don't give me that look, dobe. Kakashi warned you about dispelling that many clones," Sasuke preemptively told Naruto not to blame him for his headache.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto," Sakura said calmly. The two boys turned their attention away from their 'discussion'. "Kakashi-sensei hasn't fully recovered. He wants you two to continue working on Tree Walking."

"Well yeah, Sasuke's nowhere near done," Naruto said offhandedly.

"You're not any closer!" Sasuke shot back.

"I'm closer than you are!" Naruto countered.

Sakura cleared her throat. "I need to go. Kakashi wants me to guard Tazuna and his workers today. We still have a few days before Zabuza will return. I can handle thugs."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura like she had grown a second head. "Duh, you're a ninja. Thugs can't step to us!" Naruto said excitedly. Sasuke shrugged, but that was as close to a compliment or even agreement as Sakura was likely to get. "If they do attack, I want to hear stories about how much ass you kicked, Sakura-chan!" Naruto added excitedly.

"Thanks, Naruto," Sakura said with a legitimate smile. "Good luck you two with your training."

Sakura left Tazuna's home with the bridge-builder. Naruto took a deep breath.

"So…we've been surpassed by Sakura-chan," Naruto said offhandedly.

"Don't bring it up, Naruto," Sasuke growled as he got up from his seat. Naruto got up from his seat as well.

"Race you to the trees?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke made a dismissive grunt. "Race implies you have a shot at winning."

"It is on!" Naruto snapped. The two boys took off running and willfully ignored Tsunami's shouts.

Sakura could hear the whispers. She could hear Tazuna's workers questioning if she could protect them; questioning if she could protect herself. It was as if her self-doubts had manifested in physical form.

"They are just scared," Tazuna said in his most grandfatherly tone.

Sakura sighed and looked at her client. "To tell the truth…so am I."

"But you kept going," Tazuna pointed out. "You could have turned back after the Demon Brothers, but here you are. You were scared and kept going. That…is bravery. It reminds me of Kaiza…"

"Kaiza?" Sakura asked. She hadn't heard that name mentioned. However, she could tell by the downcast looks of Tazuna and the workers it was undoubtedly a tragic story.

"Aye, a fine man…healed the hole in my daughter's heart and would have filled the father-shaped void in Inari's soul," Tazuna began. He told the tale of Kaiza. He told of how Gatō had the brave man brutally tortured and murdered in an attempt to break the spirit of wave. "The day Kaiza died, a bit of all of us died with him."

"Tazuna! We've got trouble!" One of the workers shouted out in fear.

A heavy-set thug carrying a large sickle sauntered forward. "Trouble's a bit of an understatement."

Sakura immediately knew this man was a killer. Her enemy, and he was an enemy, had killed before and would kill again. Sakura fought to keep her fear under control. There were thrity-three workers and her client depending on her. Sakura was duty-bound to defend Tazuna. Beyond that, Sakura would protect the workers as well. There was no way Sakura would allow nearly two-score innocent people to be murdered on her watch.

'I am a shinobi. This is the life I chose,' Sakura declared to herself. She silently cursed that her own thoughts held a twinge of fear. The thug just laughed as he rolled his weapon around in the palm of his hand. "I-I won't let you harm Tazuna-san or his workers. D-depart immediately!"

The thug broke out into hysterics. "Look at the little princess pretending to be a soldier. You're a little young, so I guess I'll kill you too. I wonder who you'll scream for first? Your mamma or your papa? Let's find out."

Sakura cursed her tremble and flashed through some hand seals. There were some puffs of smoke and three Bunshin appeared between the thug and Tazuna's workers.

"Well, aren't we a little witch?" The thug taunted. Sakura desperately tried to ignore the taunting. She was desperately praying that her next attempt would work. Sakura began a second series of hand seals. She had been studying at the shinobi library for at least an hour every night since she received her hitai-ate. Unfortunately, her studies had not yielded much fruit. So far, Sakura had barely nailed down the basics of the simplest genjutsu she had discovered. There was absolutely no way her meager skills would work against a shinobi.

Sakura prayed her genjutsu would work on a cocky thug.

The thug was evidently tired of waiting and charged right as Sakura finished weaving her genjutsu. The genjutsu was a simple one. It merely interfered with the target's perception of distances.

'Please work, please work, please work,' Sakura chanted over and over in her mind. Sakura was struck by a vicious swing of the criminals sickle. Sakura, however, did not scream or bleed. Instead, she phased out of existence. The criminal enforcer had hit one of the bunshins. He had been fooled. As the larger man screamed out in frustration, the real Sakura made her move. She threw a brace of shuriken at the man. Of course, Sakura positioned herself so her shuriken had no chance of hitting Tazuna or any of his workers. The first few shuriken missed, but two hit the target.

'It is a target. It isn't a person. I can't think of him as a person,' Sakura reminded herself to calm her nerves.

The man cried out in pain. It was a second opening for Sakura to exploit. She pulled a kunai and charged. The man wheeled around and swung his large sickle at Sakura. Thankfully, Sakura's genjutsu was still in play. The strike missed wide right. Sakura stabbed out with the kunai, but the man managed to dodge. Sakura only managed to slash the man's hip. Unfortunately, the cut wasn't very deep. Sakura's charge also put her close enough to her foe that the genjutsu's effects were negated. The man kicked Sakura hard in the gut. Sakura was knocked from her feet and skidded to a stop.

"I don't know what witchery you pulled, but I know that it goes away if I get close! I'm going to gut you like a fish, you little bitch!"

Sakura scrambled to her feet and rewove her genjutsu. She reinforced the first genjutsu and added a second layer. Sakura was praying the entire time that her ploy would work. The thug was quickly closing the distance. He cursed Sakura, her mother, and any other familial relations he could think of as he advanced. Sakura fumbled through her supply pouch and grabbed her only explosive tag. The kunoichi quickly attached it to one of her kunai. Sakura reared back and threw the kunai with all her might.

She barely hit her mark. The kunai hit the outside of the man's chest. There was no scream or terrified flash of recognition from the criminal. Instead, there was a fireball.

Sakura had killed for the first time. The workers cheered Sakura's victory. They celebrated a blow against Gato's tyranny of fear. Sakura heard one of the workers praise Sakura's strength.

She wanted to cry. "I'm not strong. Not like Sasuke and Naruto…I'm not strong."

Naruto chuckled as he brushed himself off. "I've got an idea Sasuke."

"A miracle," Sasuke deadpanned as he got up after another attempt to reach the top of his tree.

"Using all these Shadow Clones gave me the plan. You know how they can act independently and stuff?" Naruto rambled.

"Obviously, I've been forced to deal with them for three days. You do realize six have challenged me to fights," Sasuke pointed out.

"Take it as a compliment. They want to get stronger and what better way than sparring with you?" Naruto pointed out impatiently. "Anyway, the idea is…buddy clones."

"Buddy clones," Sasuke repeated. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Well, you know the situation with the Demon Brothers earlier. What if there had been more bad guys and they had held up Sakura-chan in a fight? What would have happened to the client?" Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke grit his teeth. He knew what would have happened. Tazuna would have died. The thought was sobering for Sasuke. He could have failed his first true mission. Itachi had been in ANBU at this age.

'I am so far behind,' Sasuke lamented.

"He would have died," Sasuke admitted hotly.

"Not if we had buddy clones," Naruto stated proudly. "See, before any possible battle or touchy situation, I'll make a number of clones. The clones will sit back, and if we get into trouble…poof! They'll substitute with us!"

Sasuke thought about it for a moment. "Not a bad plan. You might be able to carry your weight after all."

Naruto wiped a mock tear from his eye. "You really do care. We might fool people into thinking we're a team after all. Maybe even friends…"

"Call it whatever you want…" Sasuke didn't quite snap. "I'm spent. I'm going back to Tazuna's house. I'll let Kakashi know you're going to stay out here."

"Thanks, Sasuke. I shouldn't be too much longer," Naruto assured his teammate.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the client's home. He was thinking about his team. They weren't the disappointments he had expected them to be. He still wasn't where he wanted to be, but Sasuke believed he was at least moving forward.

"Good evening, Sasuke-san," Tsunami greeted. "How was your training?"

"Productive," Sasuke responded neutrally. "Thank you."

Tsunami didn't respond to the forced formality. She simply informed Sasuke when she would have dinner ready. Sasuke nodded in response and trudged upstairs to where Kakashi was doing some light exercises.

"Kakashi," Sasuke said in way of greeting.

"Naruto's being stubborn and won't come in until he gets the exercise done. How many clones did he have when you left?" Kakashi's amusement was evident.

"Not entirely sure. The number was constantly in flux. Last count…twenty-six," Sasuke reported.

"Oh, when we're at dinner, ask Sakura how her day went," Kakashi said cryptically. Sasuke nodded and headed downstairs to rest. Half an hour later, Tsunami called them all to dinner. Conversation was light for the most part.

"Sakura, did you encounter any enemies while escorting Tazuna?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Sakura answered quietly.

"Were you victorious?" Sasuke asked with genuine curiosity.

"I won," Sakura answered and looked up.

"Congratulations," Sasuke replied with a smirk.

Sakura had always wanted Sasuke to compliment her skills and recognize her as a kunoichi. However, his congratulations rang hollow. All she could think of was her enemy dying in fire.

Naruto dispelled his last clone. He fell backwards and lounged in the grass. The boy was exhausted, but had finally reached the top of the tree.

"I can't believe I pulled that off. I bet my chakra control is better than anyone's now!" Naruto shouted.

The shout of triumph became a shriek of pain. Naruto's hands immediately went to his eyes. He had hoped that this wouldn't happen. At least, he hoped he would make it back to Konoha before the pain hit. He started to cry, but the tears were too thick to be normal.

Naruto was in too much pain to register the metallic smell. He was crying blood. The pain became so intense that Naruto actually passed out.

His mind was not idle while his body was wracked with pain. Naruto's mind registered a malevolent presence within the recesses of his soul. It had to be the Kyūbi. Naruto's spirit felt the Bijū calling him to the Seal. It was calling for release. Naruto fought against the siren call. He would not submit. He was Uzumaki Naruto and he would forge his own destiny.

He would never give up.

Haku hummed to herself as she entered a clearing. Zabuza-sama was healing very well. The young woman knelt and collected a rare herb. "This will do nicely," Haku whispered. As her gaze rose from her collection, she noticed a young man in the center of the clearing. The false hunter-nin cautiously approached the brightly-garbed boy.

"You…"Haku breathed as she recognized the boy. It was the Konoha shinobi who had realized the struggles the shinobi world required. He did not register her presence. Haku was surprised until she noticed how labored the boy's breaths were.

'Is this…Naruto dying?' Haku wondered. She knelt next to the boy and examined him. There were no outward signs of violence. Haku also did not see any signs of any allergic reactions or illness. The last Hyōton wielder took Naruto's hand and felt for a pulse. It was surprisingly strong.

"What is going on?" Haku whispered to herself. She nearly panicked when Naruto's eyes fluttered open. However, Naruto did not seem to be aware of his surroundings. There was something off about Naruto's eyes. Haku remembered that the boy's eyes were an inviting blue. This time, however, they were an odd purple color with a shifting black double helix design. Haku's eyes went wide as she lost control of her bloodline and her arm froze up to the elbow. The double helix in Naruto's eyes stopped moving and the reformed into a pupil. As Haku banished the ice encasing her arm, Naruto's eye color returned to normal. Naruto began to stir and his eyes snapped to attention.

Haku discretely placed her hand on a clutch of senbon hidden in her obi. "It seems you will live after all. Who are you, Shinobi-san?"

She desperately wanted to add 'What are your eyes?'

'Uzumaki Naruto, you are a mystery…a mystery I will uncover.'

Author's Notes: I bet you guys thought this story was about as dead as the Boston Red Sox's playoff chances! Well, this story is alive and as real as the University of South Carolina giving their team rings for finishing 5th place rings. (I'm sorry Gamecocks, I can't hear your whining over our conference championship! Go Clemson Tigers!)

If you can't tell, I'm in a bit of a sports mood. College Football is back! Unfortunately, I'm not sure what my update schedule is going to look like from now on. I'm in the middle of my student teaching and it's 2 months of full on teacher hours and responsibility. Wish me luck.

In closing, hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please review!