We let the laughter continue a while before it naturally dies down. "So, what were you doing here exactly?" I smile in a smug manner. "I was learning to walk up trees." "Don't you mean climb?" I smirk and he looks a little taken back. "No, I meant walk. I walked up the tree...watch." I walk over to the tree before concentrating my chakra. Then, I walk up the tree. I get to the branch I was on before smiling down at Ducky. He looks stunned again. Awesome.

"Can, you teach me how to do that?" Hm. It would be beneficial. He has terrible chakra control though. Hm. "Ok but, it takes a lot of concentration at first. Don't get frustrated if you fail a few times." He nods with determination and I begin my lesson.

I've been reading a book while Ducky's been practicing. What? How do I have so many books on me? Oh well, that's easy, I have them all stored in a scroll. Pretty cool way of storing them. Keeps my apartment clean too. Anyway, this book is all about these things called Ghouls. This poor guy was turned into a half-breed after an accident and now he has to deal with the idea of eating people. Pretty gruesome stuff. It's really cool though. It's also above my age range but, being told to get out while I'm still holding it meant it didn't matter.

I look down to the tree Ducky's walking up and see he's made it about half way up. He's persistent I'll give him that. "Hey Ducky! Stop there a minute and eat something! You're chakra's bound to be low now!" He looks at me with tired eyes. I'm right on the money. He's panting really heavily too. Maybe I should let him rest longer after the meal. "Yeah, ok." I jump down from the tree and bring out a scroll. Knowing I wasn't going back to that house, I made lots of food. I hope it tastes good.

I summon the food and Ducky jumps a little. Heh heh. It's just some cooked fish. "Here." I hand him a fish and he nods. Then he gulps. What's he gulping at? I'm going to watch his every move until he tells me how it is. Ok, stare mode ACTIVATE! He seems tense. I wonder why :3. Oh, here it comes. He's taken a bite. Chewing. Swallow. Savouring. Come on already! Gah! I'm hungry too Usuratonkatchi! "It's good." Ahaha finally. I smile and nod proudly before digging into my own fish. That took too long. Never, doing that, again.

We've finished our food and continued our training. Well, Ducky continued training. I just continued reading. I'm getting kinda hooked on this story. The half-breed goes full kick-ass mode! I hear footsteps and turn to see the rest of team 7 walking up. Pinkie is looking dreamily at Ducky again. Puke.

"Sasuke-Kun is so cool! He's able to walk up the tree!" What? He isn't even near the branches yet. Chill out miss fan girl, jeez. "What you reading four eyes? Tips on what Sasuke-Kun is doing?" When can I hit her and get away with it? I wonder... No! I have to be the bigger ninja remember. She's a royal pain. "Not at all Pinkie. I'm reading my manga. I perfected that about an hour before Ducky arrived." She looks stunned, and maybe a tad angry. "No way! You can't do that! Not if Sasuke-Kun can't!" Dear kami. "You realise Ducky isn't the centre of everything right?" She's scowling again. Ugh. "Prove it." Prove it huh? Ok. Silently, I walk to the tallest tree and proceed up to the top. Wow, quite the view up here. I should have climbed this one sooner.

I jump back down and walk back over to sensei and Pinkie. While pushing my glasses up in proud smugness. I'm allowed to be smug every once in a while. Especially when Pinkie looks as gob smacked as she does now.

Ducky walks over to us and pats my shoulder. "Naruto-Sama was teaching me how to walk up trees using my chakra." Wait, did he call me 'sama'? Pinkie looks stunned. Meanwhile, sensei giggles into his book. I can't tell if he's laughing at that or what Ducky called me. "Naruto-Sama?!" Oh dear. She seems pissed. "Yes?" Oh kami. Why did I reply with that? I am so dead. GAH! Yep, she hit me. I rub my head and back away slowly. Hm? "Ducky? Why are stood in front of me like your protecting me from an incoming attack?" He looks at me like I'm dumb. I'm not dumb! I just don't think you're helping this situation. "Because Sakura-Baka was going to keep hitting you." Oh dear kami no. She's more pissed than before. Damn it Ducky! "How about we forget the whole thing and you stop calling me 'Sama', ok?" Pinkie seems to have calmed down at Ducky's nod of approval. Kakashi-Sensei is going to be asking me about that later. Sigh.

"Naruto, how about you teach Sakura how to walk up trees too?" I look at Kakashi-Sensei with pleading eyes. Come on sensei, you know she won't listen to me. He's glaring at me expectantly with his one eye. Noooooooo... "Fine." "No way! Four eyes can't teach me anything!" Sigh. I look at sensei again and see he's now looking at me apologetically. This is your fault sensei... You owe me ramen. "Sakura." She looks at me with wide eyes. Now she knows I'm serious. "Concentrate your chakra into your feet. If you can match the tree to your feet, you'll stick." She nods and moves to try it. Ho ho, she's listening to me?! Well, this is a peculiar turn. Ducky's looking at me again. "What?" "Nothing." And he's back to training.

Oh, he's getting better. He almost grabbed a branch that time. I wonder how...how? How did she walk up it already? "Ha! Beat that four eyes!" Sigh. "You realise I can already do it so your actually just insulting Ducky there." Her face drops and I can hear a slight growl from Ducky. Scary. Remind me not to piss him off.

I hear a rustle and turn around to see that kid, Inari was it, staring at us through the trees. I put my book down and stand up. He takes a step back and looks away with guilty eyes. "Hey dobe! You gonna just stand there or are you going to come over here?!" He jumps but walks towards us anyway. He's also scowling at me now. Sigh, so troublesome. He stands in front of me and bows a little. "I-I'm sorry." Huh? He's apologizing?! It's just like when Sakura did it. What was I told to do again. Oh right! "Thank you for apologizing." I bow then feel a thump on the back of my head. I rub it and look at sensei quizzically. "Say your sorry." I look confused and he sighs. Why do I need to apologize? "You said some pretty mean things, apologize." Oh, I guess I did. He needed to hear it though. "Right, sorry." I feel another thump. "Be sincere four eyes!" I can't help the pout and following sigh. "I thought I did... Inari, I'm sorry for what I said."

He looks confused. What? Did I do it wrong again? "Er yeah. So, mum says for you all to come back for tea." Everyone starts walking and I take a seat under a tree. It'll rain soon. Inari stops and looks at me with an angry pout. Such a kid, hope he doesn't have to grow up too soon though. Some people need to be young for as long as they can. "Aren't you coming?" "Nope. I disturbed the peace of the house and are therefore unwelcome. I will be staying here until we finish our mission." I look over and see everyone looking worried. Sigh. I need to stop sighing, it'll cause stress. "Don't worry, I'll consider it training. Go back already, builder guy and his daughter will be worried about you." Inari clenches his fists and I think he's going to punch something. Nope, that was a courage clench. You know, when you clench your fists to gain the courage you need. He leads the group away and I watch as they leave.

Can't really say that for sensei though. "How long are you going to sit in that tree Kaka-Jiji? You'll have to catch up to them soon." "Ah, so you did know I was still here. Very clever Naruto." Don't patronize me. He jumps down and sits next to me. "It'll rain soon." "Yup." "So, how did he know?" "How did who know what?" He sighs. I know where he's going with this but if I have a chance to make him get in trouble, I'm taking it. "How did Sasuke know about your lineage?" "He's a smart one that Ducky. You should give him more credit." "He's not THAT smart. How did he find out Naruto?" Sigh. "I told him, that's how." "Why?" "Because he saw how I wake up." He looks worried. "That still happens?!" "Well, yeah. Those beatings only stopped after you saved me. And I still get beaten, just not as bad so, why wouldn't I still have them?" "They still beat you?!" "Jiji." "Right, sorry." "Yeah, they do. But it's fine. Soon I will be able to defend myself." I look at him with a determined flare in my eyes and he smiles. It's a pained smile but it's also a proud smile. I wasn't totally honest when I said I only cared about ramen and Lord Third before. I care for Kaka-Jiji too. Maybe more than he knows. I love him like family. Huh, so this is what that feels like? I like it. It feels, warm.

Jiji stands up and pats my head. "I guess I better catch up. Here, use this to keep you warm." He drops his vest on me then shunshins back to the others. They're definitely going to question where his vest went. I hope he knows that. I put the vest on over my hoodie and snuggle into it. It's still warm... well, duh. How dumb can I be? He only just left it. Huh? What is jabbing me in the ribs? I go into the pocket and pull out... a book? No way! He left a book for me to read?! So cool! Thank you Jiji! I will definitely say thanks tomorrow. I wonder what genre it is. I can feel my eyes sparkling. Better get reading before it rains.