06 Trees, Water, and Team 8
3/6/2008 -- 1006 words
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (Rowlings) or Naruto (Kishimoto).
AN: Half the size of the last but I wasn't overly inspired. Next chapter will probably be similar but after that comes the Bridge Scene so keep your fingers crossed. As for any Japanese, some honorifics and I used the term 'hime' with the understanding that it means 'princess' or something similar. If that is incorrect please tell me. Leave a review at the end, I listen!
Kakashi didn't like Harry. He was suspicious, rude, insulting, and snide. Naruto loved him like a brother, Sakura was indebted to him, and Sasuke -Sasuke!- respected him, in his own sullen way. They were his team damnit!
Harry didn't like Kakashi. He was lazy, caught in the past, and favored Uchiha-hime. He made no effort to earn the respect of his genins or teach them how to be effective ninja. Instead, he taught by the philosophy, "Do as I say, not as I do," and expected three twelve year olds to comply.
Team 7 knew Kakashi-sensei disliked Harry-san and that Harry-san returned the sentiments two-fold. However, it was Naruto who realized they could use the mutual dislike in their favor. To say his teammates were shocked was putting it mildly, but Naruto was either oblivious to their reaction or ignored it. Harry later came to the conclusion that Naruto had ignored it.
Recognizing the golden opportunity biting them on their butts for what it was, they pounced.
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Harry and Kakashi disliked each other but both agreed on one thing -- chakra control was a must. All three little genin sucked royally -Harry's words- at chakra control, wasting exponential amounts with each jutsu they performed. Kakashi, as cell leader, made the call to start them on tree climbing. The little genin went from excited, to annoyed, to painfully frustrated in the span of five minutes. Ten minutes later and the boys were nursing bruised egos at Sakura's joyful proclamation of reaching the top. Harry was delighted to inform her that her astounding feat was in fact due to abnormally small chakra reserves and pathways.
The resulting cloudy aura of gloom was like the finest of wines to his senses.
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The boys, upset at their pink team mate's success, left immediately after dinner and stayed out past midnight that night. Sasuke staggered inside supporting Naruto directly into the benevolent smile of the eccentric traveler. Grinning at the boys he stepped between the two supporting one on each arm and helped them upstairs to their room. Offering a soft good night to the already sleeping boys he returned to his own room and slept.
Kakashi and Harry watched the genin practice their skills until noon the next day when they could all successfully traverse their respective trees at least three times. At that point Kakashi mockingly bowed out of the training, leaving Team 7 to Harry's devices and returned to the house to rest. Chakra exhaustion wasn't something overcome in a day after all.
Never looking back, Kakashi missed the rather sadistic smirk on the blind man's lips.
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"Okay my pretty little genin let's talk. Or, more accurately, I talk and you listen then obey. Now, I know you all are feeling pretty happy, invincible, on top of the world, correct? Well, that's no fun for me so I'm going to make it fun. Tree climbing is the most basic of all chakra control exercises and not worth the breath it takes to boast your ability so we're going to dive into the next level of chakra control. That's right kiddies; we're going to learn water walking!" Harry clapped mockingly to himself while his body vibrated softly in restrained enthusiasm. The resulting groans were music to his ears.
"Umm…Harii-san, how much harder can the water walking be? I mean, we got the tree walking down in a day and a half."
Flashing in the light the beads softly clacked when Harry cocked his head. After a moments consideration he walked towards the nearest tree and transitioned from ground to bark smoothly.
And then the genin gaped.
Harry jumped and flipped, did hand stands and cart wheels, he even somersaulted up and down and between the trees. Along the trunks and undersides of branches, even the leafy ends that should never have supported his weight were included. With a final backwards flip Harry landed easily on the ground before the shocked genin.
"You have only just grazed the tip of the iceberg my little genin. Until you can mimic what I just did as if it was as easy as breathing for you, you know nothing, you understand nothing, and you have mastered nothing. You will not forget the skills tree climbing provides and in fact, you will undoubtedly practice it heavily when you return to Fire and all its vast forests but here, in Wave, water walking shall be your most important skill to learn. If you cannot move on water as easily as land, you will die. Bogs, swamps, water snakes, flesh eating fish, and nuke-nin, all of these are dangers present and accounted for in Wave and you stand no chance if you cannot exit the water immediately and flee. So, I will be teaching you exactly how to do that. Now, follow me!"
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Team 8 was greeted with a strange sight upon arriving at Tazuna's home—a thoroughly soaked Team 7 walking on water. Well, wobbling would probably be a more appropriate description. Actually, Sasuke had just dropped into the water and dragged Naruto down with him; Naruto, predictably, came up vocal and promptly dunked the floundering Uchiha. Sakura, concentration broken, shrieked as she fell into the water and immediately set about trying to throttle the blond. A braided blind man on the pier fell onto his arse laughing.
"Okay little genin, time to get out of the pool. The cavalry has arrived," the blind man called out after a few moments.
"Eh? What cavalry?"
"Naruto you idiot, he means Team 8 or have you forgotten the Demon Brothers already? Geez."
"Heh, sorry Sakura-chan."
Team 8 stared dumbfounded as the man calmly walked onto the water and hauled each genin out like wet sacks of flour then tossed them onto the pier. He sauntered back onto the pier next to the soaked Team 7, flicked a casual two finger salute to Kurenai-sensei, and wandered into the house most likely to warn the occupants of their arrival.
They were pulled out of their shock by the sudden rain shower provided by Naruto.
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