I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I wasn't able to update on time and it's totally my fault. I got a little too lazy and ended up getting swamped by studies and all that stuff. Plus, I had a party to attend and I was too tired afterwards to write on Saturday. So I guess I'm going to be updating twice this week. Maybe...if I can. Sorry again for the late chapter.
As I stated before, the gravity training won't be a big part of the story because it would be too damaging to their bodies in the long run. It was just a method to give them a slight boost in as little time as could be managed. They only had like a week before Zabuza would be healed up afterall. I'm too lazy to go back and change it...though I might do so in the future. Oh, also, I derped when I wrote overhead strike. Messed that up big time. Just take it as you guys want to for now. I'll try reviewing all my previous chapters in the future to edit out any such mistakes and grammatical errors.
One thing I do want from you guys is suggestions on what type of summons I should give the genin of Team 6. I'm not too keen on giving Tatsuo any summons but if I get good enough ideas I might change that line of thought. And as for Naruto and Kasumi, I dunno. Should I give them both the Toads? Or should I give Naruto something else...or maybe Kasumi something else. Feel free to throw anything you can think of at me. I'm open to anything.
So, without further procrastination, I give you the next chapter of The Tale of Team 6!
Disclaimer: I donot own Naruto. That tiny fact hasn't changed in the gap between this chapter and the last one.
Chapter 7
Kasumi awoke with a start, darting up with a panicked scream. Her eyes darted around the room she was in as she tried to calm herself. That calmness flew out of the window when her eyes fell upon her black-haired teammate as he sat leaning against the wall. The two stared at eachother for a moment before Kasumi let out another scream, only to be silenced by the impact of a pillow against her face. She tossed the pillow away before staring wide-eyed at her friend.
"Tatsuo! You're a ghost!" she screamed, pointing an accusing finger at the teen. The boy raised an eyebrow at her words before chuckling to himself. Shaking his head in amusement, the boy looked at the girl with a look that stated 'are you serious?'
"Kasumi," Tatsuo began, deciding to take it slow. "If I'm dead and you can see me, wouldn't that mean that your dead aswell?" The girl took a moment to contemplate the teen's words before letting out another scream, resulting in her receiving another pillow to the face. "Kasumi, neither of us is dead."
The girl stared at her friend for a moment before something seemed to click in her head. "You're alive!" she exclaimed in joy before rocketing towards the teen and engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug. "I was so scared! Don't ever do that again, you big idiot!" The girl didn't seem to notice how her caring action was causing her companion an immense amount of discomfort.
"K-kasumi," Tatsuo muttered, feeling the pain surge through his still sore body from the girl's painfully tight hug. It had only been a few hours since he woke up from his death-like coma. "Get off! That hurts!" the boy exclaimed, trying to push the emotional girl off of him in a comedic fashion. He was saved as the door to the room opened up to reveal Kushina, who'd come to check what the ruckus had been about.
Tatsuo watched with a sense of gratitude as the woman's arrival was enough to get the younger redhead's attention off of him, literally. The two Uzumaki ended up hugging and just exchanging happy words. Tatsuo smiled at the heartwarming scene, it only solidified his belief that he'd done the right thing when he'd pushed the girl out of the way of Haku's attack. That train of thought sparked another question in his mind. He wondered what the girl would think about the ice-using boy coming with them back to Konoha. It would definitely be entertaining to watch.
Several minutes went by before the two Uzumaki women were finished with their pseudo-reunion. Together, the three made their way downstairs where they found Tazuna and his family waiting for them. "You're awake," Tsunami stated with relief. "Thank goodness." Kasumi gave the woman a bright smile, before looking around for someone. "The rest of your team have been worried sick about you..."
The genin waved the elder woman's concern off before returning to looking around the house in search of her target. "Where's big brother?" she questioned, looking up at her mother. The woman chuckled at her daughter's apparent worry about her brother but motioned for the girl to follow her nonetheless. The group of three walked to the entrance of the house before stepping out of the cozy home. Kasumi's eyes widened when they landed on the scene outside. Naruto was fighting with Haku, although it was clear that neither was trying to kill eachother.
The black-haired teen was standing in the middle of the open clearing, surrounded by copies of the blonde Uzumaki. His eyes scanned over the group of opponents before he smirked when one of them rushed at him. Twirling around the darting clone the teen latched onto the boy's outstretched arm before spinning him around and tossing him into another clone that had attempted to assault him from behind. The ice-user crouched low to avoid the spinning kick from another copy of his opponent before smashing his palm into its chest. His attention was directed to the pair of clones rushing him from behind next as he twisted around and flung several needles at the two, being rewarded for his effort by two pops. The teen turned to the only remaining Naruto, his expression calm with a small smile present on his face. "You need to be a bit more strategic with the use of your clones, Naruto-san!" he advised, chuckling at the blonde's furious expression. "You're far too sporadic and organised when working with them."
"Hey, it's pretty hard making up a plan on the spot!" Naruto yelled back, before crossing his arms and looking away with a grunt. His eyes widened, however, when they landed on his sister. "Kasumi!" Naruto exclaimed before running up to his sister, Haku following behind him slowly. "You're up! How're you feeling?" Kasumi smiled at her blonde sibling and nodded to the boy before her eyes darted over to the raven-haired ice-user. The girl's mood changed near instantly as she narrowed her eyes at the boy.
"Haku!" the genin exclaimed, her eyes glaring at the teen. Said teen offered the girl a sheepish smile upon seeing her angry expression as she stormed up to him. He took a nervous step backwards when she let out a low growl before he felt her foot collide with his shin. The boy ended up hopping around like a madman, rubbing his leg feverishly. "That's for knocking me out before!"
"I'm sorry," the teen apologized, bowing infront of the redhead as a way of asking for her forgiveness. He received another kick to his other shin in return, ending up with him bouncing around once more. "I said I was sorry!" he exclaimed, looking at the girl slightly annoyed. What more did she want from him?
"Humph," was the red-haired genin's only response as she crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at the boy. Kushina decided she'd seen enough before patting her daughter on the head to gain the girl's attention.
"Now, now…" the jounin stated, playfully messing up the kunoichi's hair as she explained Haku's situation to the younger redhead. "Don't be so mean. Haku's been through a lot and he'll be coming back to Konoha with us." The teen rose an eyebrow at her mother's words before pouting and sending a mock glare towards the boy, earning a nervous smile from him.
It was at that moment that Kasumi noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. The girls head shifted downwards as her eyes locked onto the fluffy white rabbit sitting near Haku's feet, its beady eyes staring up at her with curiosity. Haku noticed the sparkle in the girl's eyes a moment too late before he found her seemingly vanishing. He jerked around to see the girl behind him, cuddling with his pet rabbit. "You're so cute!" she cooed as she scratched the fluffy creature in between its ears as the animal made itself comfortable within her arms.
Haku stared stunned as the girl seemingly did a complete turn-around, switching from angry and annoyed to a happy and childish curiosity in the span of a few seconds. He felt someone put a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned his head to see Tatsuo giving him a sympathetic look. "Don't look into it too much," the teen said, patting the other boy on his back. "You'll only hurt your brain if you do." Haku nodded at the boy's words before looking back at the girl playing with the bunny. He couldn't help but smile at the girl's childish behaviour, it seemed like this whole incident did indeed have a silver lining. As long as he'd be able to have a few friends in the leaf, he'd be more than content.
That night found Haku sitting in the grass as he stared at the makeshift grave infront of him. The teen couldn't help but shed a few tears as he read the name on the rough surface of the tombstone. "Zabuza-sama…" the boy mumbled as he traced the man's name on the stone. He heard someone come to stand behind him, doing nothing to react to their presence until he heard them speak.
"I'm sorry about what happened," Tatsuo stated, looking at the stone infront of the teen. "If I'd been stronger…I might have been able to do something." The Uchiha saw the ice-user shake his head in response, turning to give him an appreciative smile.
"You have no reason to be sorry," Haku replied as he wiped the tears from his eyes before leaning back on his arms and gazing up at the star-filled sky. "I'm the one who should be apologizing for what I did to you." The boy looked over to see the genin take a seat next to him.
"If I have no reason to apologize," Tatsuo began, gazing up at the stars aswell. "Then neither do you. We're ninja, it's an occupational hazard." The two teens shared a good laugh at the Uchiha's words before Haku looked back up at the night sky. "Hey, atleast you know that he considered you like a son. You should be happy about that." Haku nodded at his new friend's words, before looking over at the boy with a curious expression.
"How is it?" he asked, earning a raised eyebrow from the other teen. "Having a family, I mean." He was surprised to see the boy look down at his right hand, sorrow filling his eyes. "I'm sorry. It isn't my place to ask."
Tatsuo waved the teen off, choosing to smile at the ground. "You apologize too much," he stated, chuckling at the other boy's rather shocked expression. "No, having a family is nice. They make you feel loved and accepted." The black-haired genin frowned as he remembered something. "Ofcourse, I wouldn't know too much. I've been an orphan since I was around nine years old. But the days I spent with my parents were the happiest of my life..."
Haku frowned before looking back at his master's grave. It still felt odd thinking of the man as his father, simply because he'd developed a habit of referring to him as his master. "I'm sorry for making you rem-" the boy stopped when he felt himself being slapped upside the head.
"Like I said," Tatsuo stated, looking at the teen annoyed. "You apologize too much." Rising to his feet the raven-haired Leaf ninja offered the other boy his hand. "Come on, Kushina-sensei will get worried if we're out for too long." Haku accepted the boy's hand, before being pulled up to his feet. "And don't worry…I'm sure you'll be able to visit him again." Tatsuo finished, motioning towards he grave and earning a nod from the boy. The two then proceeded to leave the small clearing, heading back to Tazuna's house. It seemed like they were on their way to being good friends.
The next three days flew by for the Team of ninja. They'd spent time with the people of wave, doing some light training and helping out with the finishing of the bridge. The end of the week saw most of Team 6 standing at the start of the newly completed bridge. They were being seen off by nearly the entire population of the small town. "Make sure to come back and visit, okay?" Inari said, tears streaming down his cheeks. Naruto gave the boy a grin before ruffling his hair in a playful manner. "I'm not crying!" the small boy retorted upon seeing the blonde's smirk.
"Hey, it's okay to cry…" Naruto stated before smiling at the boy as grabbed him in a one-armed hug. "That is, if you're crying because you're happy." The two smiled widely before chuckling together. Kasumi shook her head at her brother's antics before smiling at him. She was glad she'd been put on a team with him. It had been pretty lonely when she'd been alone for all those years. To her, being able to spend so much time with her brother was a dream come true. Her attention was, however, quickly diverted by the fluffy animal in her arms. She'd been unable to pull herself away from the adorable creature nearly the entire week. It was just far too cute!
Kushina smiled at her children before looking over to see Tsunami approaching her. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done," the woman said bowing to the woman. "But I will thank you nonetheless. Thank you for protecting my family and our home!" Kushina placed her hands on the woman's shoulders before forcing her to stand up straight. The red-haired jounin smiled at the woman before giggling at her slightly confused expression.
"There's no need, Tsunami-san!" she exclaimed before turning to look at her children. "We were all glad we could help. It's part of our duty afterall." She looked over all the happy faces of the villagers and her smile grew brighter. "And if we were able to help so many people regain their lost happiness in the process then that makes it all the more gratifying." The woman's eyes moved over to the village to see Tatsuo and Haku walking towards them, the ice-user's eyes slightly puffy and his cheeks a bit damp. She shook her head sadly, knowing how hard it must have been for the boy to leave this place after all that had happened. Her eye's met Tatsuo's and the boy nodded to her, prompting her to let out a soft sigh before turning to the other two members of her team. "Alright you two, let's get a move on. I want to be able to get back to the village before sundown."
Naruto and Kasumi looked over before nodding at their sensei's words before uttering their final goodbyes to the people of Wave. Tatsuo walked over to Inari before kneeling down next to the boy. "Hey, listen…" he began, getting the child's attention. "I'm sorry about blowing up at you before. I was kind of stressed but it wasn't my place to say what I did…" Inari smiled at the black-haired youth before wrapping him in a hug. Tatsuo was slightly stunned but smiled anyways, patting the boy's back before getting back to his feet.
The four members of Team 6, along with their new travelling companion, waved goodbye to the people of Wave as they began their journey back to Konoha. It was only when they were out of sight that Inari asked a question that had slipped everyone's mind. "Hey, what're we going to name the bridge?"
Tazuna let out a hearty laugh before pointing towards himself with his thumb in a confident manner. "Why, 'The Great Tazuna Bridge' ofcourse!" he exclaimed, only to recoil at the large amount of 'boos' he received in return.
Tsunami placed a hand on her chin before smiling. "How about, 'The Bridge of the Leaf'?" she suggested, receiving several loud cheers from the crowd. "In honor of the ninja who saved us from our suffering." Hearing the consent of everyone present, Tazuna had no choice but to accept. But to be honest, it wasn't like he didn't like the idea either. The man smiled before exclaiming the name of the new bridge loudly, his words echoed by the crowd behind him. It would be from this day onwards that the newly made bridge would be referred to as 'The Bridge of the Leaf.'
It was some time after noon when Team 6, along with Haku, entered the Gates of the Hidden Leaf village, their time to travel back drastically decreased now that they no longer had to travel at a civilian pace. The journey back had been uneventful. It had actually been quite boring after all that had happened in the past few weeks. Naruto let out a loud cheer upon reentering the village, the rest of the Leaf ninja sharing the boy's feelings. Haku looked around nervously, not being in such a large village for a long time.
Kushina turned to the boy, smiling at him comfortingly. "No need to be so jumpy, Haku-chan," the woman stated, her words doing very little to help calm the young teen's nerves. "For now, you'll have to come with me to the Hokage's office so we can get this whole mess sorted out. I'll see if I can't get you a nice place to live and status as a Konoha shinobi." Haku nodded to the woman before she turned around to face her students.
"You three are dismissed for now," the jounin said to the three genin. "You may do as you please, but I'd suggest getting some rest." She turned to her daughter and sighed. "Kasumi-chan, you'll have to return Haru now." The young redhead's eyes widened comically befoe she sent a pleading look towards her mother, holding onto the bunny in her arms tightly. Seeing the jounin's undaunted expression, the girl sighed before gently handing the cuddly rabbit back to its owner. "I'm sure Haku-chan will let you visit him when he's settled, Kasumi-chan. " The girl looked over to see Haku nodding at her with a smile before she too nodded in resignation.
"Well, if that's all then you three may leave," Kushina stated. The woman looked over to Tatsuo when the boy lifted his hand up lazily. "What is it, Tatsuo-kun?"
"I'd like to come with you to see Hokage-sama," the teen stated, getting a raised eyebrow from his captain. "I wouldn't mind letting Haku live with me at my place. There's plenty of room…" Kushina thought about the offer for a few moments before nodding to the boy's request. She turned to her two children, only to find the spots they'd occupied seconds ago empty. The woman shook her head in amusement before motioning for the remaining two teens to follow her as she began walking towards the Hokage tower.
Naruto and Kasumi exited Ichiraku's Ramen an hour later, having consumed several bowls of ramen each. The two walked through the village at a leisurely pace, simply enjoying being back in the familiar surroundings. It helped that they'd eaten a fair amount of ramen to make up for the lack of it in Wave. The two didn't really talk much, instead just enjoying the other's company in silence. Something that most would consider impossible for the pair.
The two eventually found themselves wandering into a training field where they encountered another team of genin. "Sakura-chan! Bastard! What's up?!" Naruto exclaimed, earning a glare from the pink-haired kunoichi known as Sakura and a grunt from the black-haired teen that was Sasuke. The blonde's eyes wandered over to the third member of their team, taking note of the boy's features and attire. The teen had short black hair, pale skin and dark eyes. Along with his black shirt he wore a short grey jacket with red straps and black pants. On is back was, what looked like, a tanto in its sheathe. He carried a scroll on his hip and a satchel on his lower back. The most unique parts of his attire were the gloves he wore that left his thumbs and index fingers exposed. "And you must be…"
"Sai," the boy stated with an unusual smile present on his face that sent a chill down Naruto's spine. "It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah…" Naruto replied, before slowly taking a step away from the creepy boy and then turning to his two former classmates. "So, how've you guys been?" he questioned, earning another grunt from Sasuke and a roll of the eyes from Sakura.
"We've been fine, Naruto…" Sakura stated, before leaning to her right to look at the red-haired girl that had accompanied the blonde boy. "And who's this?" she questioned, earning a small 'eep' from Kasumi and a loud 'oh' from Naruto. The pink-haired kunoichi had never actually been introduced to Naruto's sister on the day of team assignments. Infact, neither had Sasuke.
"Right, I never introduced you guys to eachother!" the blonde Uzumaki exclaimed before pulling his sister forward and pointing at her. "This is Kasumi Uzumaki! My sister!" His words caused Sakura's jaw to drop open and even Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that little nugget of information. "Kasumi, this is Sakura-chan and that's Sasuke…the bastard." Naruto explained, pointing to the two genin respectively as he said their names.
"I thought she was just someone from your clan or something!" Sakura shouted in surprise, choosing to ignore the blonde's insult towards her crush for the moment. "I didn't know she was your sister!"
"Well, yeah…" Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. The teen turned towards Sasuke before smirking at the Uchiha heir. "Hey Bastard! You gotten any better since our last fight?!" the blonde taunted, earning a condescending smirk from the black-haired youth.
"Why would I need to get better?" he replied, grinning at the underlying challenge in the whiskered boy's statement. "Last I remember I won our previous fight…"
"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, pushing his sleeve up and marching over to his rival. "Is your memory shoddy or something? I distinctly remember me kicking your sorry ass!" The two glared at eachother as sparks began to fly between their eyes.
Sakura stood next to Kasumi, letting out a sigh at seeing the two at it again. "Here we go again…" the pink-haired genin mumbled, earning a confused look from the redhead next to her. "Oh, right. Naruto and Sasuke-kun have an ongoing rivalry between them. They used to fight all the time back in the academy. Sasuke-kun was always ahead due to his academic results but the two were pretty evenly matched in physical skill, even if I don't want to believe it."
"So, who do you think is stronger?" questioned Kasumi as she looked over to the two boys as they glared daggers at eachother, Sai having stepped back to see how things would turn out. "I mean, who won in their last fight?"
"Hard to say," Sakura stated as she shook her head. "Sasuke-kun has gotten tons stronger since we graduated from the academy. But I'm certain Naruto has aswell. Last time, they'd both ended up knocking eachother out. I don't even know how they managed to pull that off…" The two suddenly perked up when the two rivals leapt back, a fire burning in their eyes.
"Alright then, Bastard!" Naruto exclaimed as he formed a single handseal. "Prepare to get your ass whooped!" A pair of clones popped into existence on either side of the boy, earining raised eyebrows from all three members of Team 7.
"Bring it, Loser!" Sasuke retorted as his eyes morphed into the sharingan, a single black tomoe spinning in each red orb. And so the fight began. Naruto rushed towards the Uchiha, his clones following close behind him. The original stopped a few steps away from his opponent, choosing instead to leap up over the boy. His two clones continued on their paths however, prompting Sasuke to tense his body in preparation to retaliate.
The first copy of the blonde went for a straight jab, which the Uchiha dodged by ducking under the speeding punch. He couldn't capitalize on the clone however as he was forced to roll out of the way of a few speeding kunai from behind him, courtesy of the original Naruto. Climbing onto his feet, the boy's eyes focused onto the approaching pair of clones before he smirked and rushed at them, with a surprising amount of speed.
The first clone came to an abrupt halt as the other leapt over the speeding member of Team 7. The clone knocked a punch from the Uchiha to the side, only to receive a swift kick to the side of his face that caused him to go out with a pop. Sasuke turned around, as he completed his spinning kick, to see the other clone a few steps away from him and fished out a kunai, twirling the weapon in his hand before he swung the weapon at the approaching blonde, dispersing the unprepared clone in a cloud of white smoke. His eyes darted over to the right where he just barely managed to catch the last handseal Naruto made before he was flung backwards by the harsh wind the boy produced.
Crashing into a tree, the black-haired genin looked up immediately in order to not let his opponent take advantage of his lack of attention. His eyes narrowed when he saw three more clones closing in on him. The boy smirked before running through a few handseals and breathing in deeply. "Fire Style: Great Fireball!" The teen exclaimed, launching a massive ball of flames that annihilated the clones before they were able to react.
Looking up, Sasuke's eyes widened before he rolled out of the way as Naruto smashed his heel into the ground where he'd been mere moments ago. The blonde spun around and caught a spinning kick from the Uchiha before letting out a loud grunt as he spun around, flinging the black-haired boy through the air. His opponent flipped midflight before landing in a crouch, skidding back a little distance and glaring at the blonde ninja.
"You've gotten better, Loser…" Sasuke commented as he stood up and scanned the teen for any hints of movement.
"That's my line, Bastard!" Naruto answered back as he crossed his arms and glared at the boy's feet, making sure not to take the risk of looking into his eyes. He wasn't sure if his rival was skilled enough with the sharingan to cast genjutsus simply via eye contact yet but he wasn't going to take any chances.
The two boys stood still for another few seconds before darting towards eachother at the same time. They met in the middle in a flurry of limbs. Naruto grabbed his opponent's wrist to stop a quick punch and stopped the following knee that would have slammed into his gut. Pushing the boy's leg out of the way he grabbed onto Sasuke's shirt before using it and the boy's arm as leverage to flip him over and slam him into the ground.
To the whiskered-youth's surprise, his maneuver failed as the Uchiha managed to stop his fall by landing on his feet and proceeded to pull the blonde forward, smashing his other fist into the side of the jinchuriki's face. Naruto stumbled to the side, turning around just in time to avoid a spinning kick by backing up a bit. The blonde's hands came up to form his signature handseal before he was surrounded by a dozen clones, to the shock of his opponent.
The copies of the blonde sped towards the Uchiha, before they were forced to leap out of the way to avoid another ball of fire. Naruto himself moved out of the path of the destructive jutsu and looked back to see Sasuke running towards him, ignoring his clones completely. One of the blonde copies tried tackling the boy, only to end up with an elbow buried in its gut. The poor blonde replica managed to buy enough time, however, for the rest of the clones to converge on their target.
Sasuke growled as his eyes swept over the copies of his blonde rival before he smirked, pulling out two kunai that he gripped tightly in both hands. A moment passed before the clones, as one, let out a loud battle cry and began their assault. His sharingan spinning wildly, Sasuke was just about able to keep up with the flurry of motion.
He sidestepped the first clone that had attempted to tackle him, dispersing it by tripping the copy and making it crash into the ground. The next two clones attacked from either side, prompting the genin of Team 7 to duck under their initial strikes before twirling around and slicing through them with his kunai. Another clone attempted to attack him from behind, only to end up receiving a kick that sent it up into the air where it dispersed in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke ignored his fatigue and rolled to the side in order to avoid another clone of his rival before being struck from behind by a hard kick that sent him stumbling forwards. He took it in stride, twisting around and flinging one of his kunai and ending the life of another clone before spinning back around and stabbing another clone in the shoulder. The teen glared at the few remaining blondes before tensing up as he saw one rushing at him with a kunai in hand. He didn't back down however, choosing to meet the blonde head on. It was at this very moment that he found his hand caught in a tight grip, along with the Naruto infront of him.
"Now, now…" he heard, prompting him to look up into the single lazy eye of his jounin instructor. "No need for such violence." The man was tall and had spiky silver hair along with grey eyes. The lower half of his face was covered by a mask, along with his headband that covered his left eye. He wore the standard Konoha flak jacket along with fingerless gloves that had metal plates on the back. The rest of his attire consisted of blue pants and a long-sleeved shirt of the same colour, aswell as shinobi sandals. "I'm sure you two could find other ways to resolve your conflicts."
"Hey! Don't get in my way, Scarecrow!" Naruto exclaimed, pouting at the jounin as he pulled his hand free from the man's grasp. The boy knew the fight was over so he let his clones disperse in puffs of smoke.
"How cruel, Naruto…" the man stated as he ruffled the blonde's hair, much to the boy's annoyance. "But you don't really have a say in the matter do you? Afterall, Sasuke is a member of my team isn't he?" Naruto glared at the man before letting out an annoyed 'huff' and proceeding to walk off. "Oh, before you go. I met your sensei on my way here from the Hokage's office. She said if I were to find you then I should tell you that you would have the next couple of days off. So don't show up for training until she gives you the order to, okay?"
Naruto waved at the man as he continued walking, his sister running after him as the two left the field. It wasn't long after the two left that Kakashi looked over at his team. They'd returned to acting like they did every day. Sasuke was being his usual silent self, Sakura was fawning over the Uchiha heir and Sai…was being creepy as always. Kakashi sighed, as he pulled out his book once more. Sometimes he wished he hadn't passed this team. It got really repetitive teaching them sometimes. "Hey, atleast I managed to nab us a C-rank mission." The man relished in his ability to gain a reaction from anyone. Even his boring students.
The two siblings spent most of the evening together, simply walking through the village and talking about random things. It wasn't until a few hours had passed that Naruto decided to head up to the monument, which held the faces of all the Hokages of the Hidden Leaf Village. The sun bordered on the edge of the horizon as the whiskered jinchuriki gazed over the village from atop his father's head on the Hokage monument. It brought him a sense of peace to look over the entire village from this point. "Are you alright, Big Brother?" questioned Kasumi as she gazed at the boy from his right. Naruto chuckled before breaking out into full blown laughter. He stopped before looking at the girl and nodding his head.
"It's been a while since I've been up here…" he muttered as he looked up at the sky that was painted a bright orange by the setting sun. "I used to come up here all the time when I was still in the Academy." He looked over at his sister and smiled at her. "I used to wonder what Dad would think of me and how I'd turned out." The boy looked down at his feet and smiled. "I even ended up painting the monument once as a prank. But I didn't disrespect any of the previous Hokage's in doing so." He looked over to his sister and patted her on the back. "They were all great people afterall!"
Kasumi looked at her brother as he smiled up at the sky before he turned around and began walking away. She followed after him, falling into step behind him as the two made their way down the monument. The girl couldn't help but notice how the boy seemed slightly subdued. She wanted to ask him why that was the case but decided if he wanted to talk about it he'd do so at his own leisure. They walked in a comfortable silence until they reached the bottom of the monument where they decided to go their separate ways. It was getting late and their mother wouldn't appreciate them staying out for so long after they'd just gotten back. "Well then, I'll see you tomorrow, Kasumi!" Naruto exclaimed as he began walking towards the Uchiha district, waving to his sister as he did. The smiled and waved back at him, before heading home aswell.
Naruto dragged himself to the front door of the house he shared with Tatsuo. He was tired after today and the exhaustion had finally caught up with him. He briefly wondered what had happened with the boy and Haku at the Old man's office but decided to think about it later. Opening the door, he entered with a loud exclamation of 'I'm back!' Hearing the voice of Tatsuo reply that he was in the living room, Naruto assumed he'd gotten back from the mission debriefing. Removing his sandals the teen decided to go see if there was anything to eat. It was only when he entered the living room, and saw Haku there, that he stopped. "Welcome home, Naruto-san!" the boy greeted with a smile, tilting his head slightly as he gazed upon Naruto's confused visage. A few moments passed as the blonde and ice-user stared at eachother. "I'll be living with you and Tatsuo-san for the time being! I hope you don't mind..." It wasn't that he'd mind. Naruto had simply been through quite a bit on the whole trip to Wave. This surprise was just enough to push the boy over the edge. And then, doing a very good impression of Hinata, Naruto fainted. It seemed like the events of the past week had finally gotten to him.
Once again, sorry about the late update. I'll try updating again on the upcoming weekend. Don't hold me to that though. Also, does this chapter seem alright? Like, I kinda feel like it's fragmented. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it. It wasn't very action-packed. Just a mild cooldown after the end of the whole Zabuza thing. We've officially finished the Wave arc now. Next chapter, I'm not really sure what to do. Do you guys think I should head on into the Chunin Exams or should I do another mission. This one will probably be a joint mission with one of the other teams.
It might end up taking a bit longer too because I don't really have a mission planned, but I could definitely come up with something. It'd also help expand on Team 6's relationships with one of the other teams. I dunno really. Besides that, not much else to say. Studies keep me pretty busy so I don't get too much time to write. Hope you guys can understand that...
Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this chapter. I'll try to update on time in the future. Hopefully, I can do so this weekend aswell. That being said...I'll seeya next time! Nya!
