They reached Ichiraku's with Naruto being carried between Kakashi and Sonea and he kept rambling about what he wanted. After a fight about Ramen and Tsukemen, Kakashi, Sonea and Yamato ate while they fought and Naruto finally got what he wanted.
"Time to get back to training!" Naruto announced happily.
"Before we do that… Naruto, I've got something extremely cool to show you." Kakashi said in a secretive and smooth voice.
"Extremely cool?" Naruto asked.
"Now that we've had our fill, I've got to explain a few more concepts to you. Relax, I'm a very smooth talker. I'll phrase it in a way you'll understand." Kakashi said, narrowing his eye. The bill was handed to Kakashi and he decided to show how much of a smooth talker he really was.
"Yamato, can you get this?" Kakashi asked innocently.
"Excuse me? I thought veterans were suppose to treat their junior counter parts." Yamato said, just as slyly back.
"There are no 'juniors' and 'seniors' when it comes to people I respect. Although, among my so-called 'juniors', you're about the only one I respect at all… But you're right, I should pay." Kakashi said with a gleam to his eye and Sonea was hiding her laughter behind her cup of tea. Yamato was left to pay while Kakashi, Naruto and Sonea waited outside. Kakashi held up a victory sign with his fingers, Naruto laughed and Sonea bumped him with her hip with a smirk.
"Smooth talker indeed." Naruto said. And they all returned to the training grounds afterwards. Kakashi performed a rasengan and both Yamato and Sonea smirked at the disbelief on his face and Kakashi seemed to be smirking under his mask to.
"No fair! Rasengan's my ultimate technique but you can do it so easily?! I had to endure crazy difficult training with Ero-Sennin, you have no idea what I went through…" Naruto began complaining.
"Um, this is just the starting point of what I wanted to tell…" Kakashi began while he dispersed the jutsu.
"And you can do it with one hand! I always have to do it with clones… I don't believe this. Maybe I should give it another try…" Naruto continued to complain.
"We'll wait for him to calm down " Kakashi said with a sigh. Naruto then tried to do rasengan with one hand, which failed miserably.
"I didn't show you rasengan just to brag about it." Kakashi said.
"Huh, yeah right." Naruto said back.
"I told you before that rasengan is a technique that only uses shape manipulation, remember? Then I showed you a technique that uses both shape manipulation and nature manipulation… By which I mean Chidori." Kakashi demonstrated.
"You're just showing off again." Naruto complained and everyone sighed.
"Fine… Naruto, watch here." Sonea stepped forward and held her hands apart from each other. "My Storm release; eye of the Storm jutsu is both shape and nature manipulation, first is the shape." Sonea explained as a burning ball of chakra appeared between her hands. "Next, I add a base to it which I use water." The chakra changed into a ball of water, like rasengan. "However, lightning doesn't agree with this shape, so I change it so it becomes a little dispersed and all lightning that can jump to the molecules but I also compress it at the same time for power." She showed the water dispersing into chakra and lightning dancing between it and compressed it back together, giving it a look like Chidori. "Then lastly, I add the wind nature, which doesn't agree with the shape either and so I start the rotation of every single molecule as the wind and lightning mixes and turn the water into rotation again." Sonea showed how it began rotation with a hum of wind and lightning and let it disperse in reverse of what she just showed.
Kakashi then took the explanation from there, saying Rasengan is an incomplete technique as the Yondaime tried to mix his nature with Rasengan but failed because being able to combine both nature and shape manipulation is harder than it seems.
"It may even be impossible. This part can't be taught. It's something you have to figure out for yourself. Do… Do you know why I'm telling you all of this Naruto? Because you're the only shinobi in the world who can surpass the Yondaime. That's what I believe… Well, let's kill the small talk and continue training, shall we?" Kakashi asked with happy spirits as he moved off to give him some space. Yamato and Sonea followed after him.
"Well done Kakashi-san. You're really a smooth talker." Yamato said to Kakashi.
"No, I was telling the truth." Kakashi said honestly and Sonea knew he was right, Minato did say he tried to combine the two but he failed every time and Sonea even showed him her Storm release jutsu over and over again like she just did with Naruto.
He began with clones of two with Rasengan and trying to combine the two but it kept failing and the Kyuubi kept coming out, Yamato and Sonea had tackled him multiple times and she was now permanently staying in Jyuubi chakra mode as he trained. A sudden gust of wind caught her off guard and it gave her a shiver down her spine as she looked behind her to the open training field and saw a storm brewing… this was always a bad sign for Sonea.
"What's the matter?" Kakashi asked with concern, looking away from his book at her.
"I… I have a bad feeling… Something always happens when I get a shiver from the wind and I see a storm brewing in the distance." Sonea said, still scowling at the storm.
"You don't think Naruto might…" Kakashi began, looking at the working teen.
"No, if it was, I would have a worse feeling." Sonea said, looking back at him and hearing a screech before a few clones were sent flying from the explosion. Her eyes widened, it was one hell of a screech, as bad as when she uses the locket sometimes. "This is going to be one hell of a technique neither one of us will be able to handle." Sonea said suddenly and Kakashi looked at her a bit confused before turning back to his book in hand.
Rain began to pour as another Naruto went Kyuubi again and Yamato reacted faster that time. Kakashi jumped over to him to make sure he was okay and Naruto seemed a bit disheartened. They talked for a little while before Kakashi made a clone and looked both ways and Naruto's face seemed to lighten up and he went at it again with three clones and finally the results started to show through. The screech from it was amazing and it was a pointy white ball of chakra and Sonea decided to listen in on what they were talking about.
"No less from Konoha's number one most surprising ninja, huh Naruto? I got to say… I'm really starting to like you." Kakashi said to him and Naruto freaked out and took it the wrong way and Kakashi was completely misconstrued to what Naruto understood.
"Don't say weird shit like that, you freak. I finally got the technique and your creepy talk threw me off." Naruto accused him.
"I didn't mean it like that." Kakashi said innocently. And he began to walk towards him and Naruto ran away.
"What the heck are those two doing?" Yamato said as a ninja jumped down with a message.
"Sarutobi Asuma has been killed in battle, the funeral will be held tomorrow in the cemetery." He reported and the bad feeling finally made sense to Sonea. Yamato got up and they both made their way over to Kakashi and Naruto.
"Kakashi-senpai, we have to stop training and return to the village right now." Yamato shouted over to them.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked. He was studying both of their saddened faces with slight fear showing in his one eye and they stopped by them and Yamato kept his head down the whole time.
"Sarutobi Asuma-san… Has passed away." Yamato informed them. Kakashi turned away and looked out into the field while running a hand through his hair. Sonea instantly embraced Naruto in a hug and held on tight for a while.
"The funeral is being held tomorrow morning in the cemetery and your presence is requested there." Sonea finished as she felt the silent and tearless sobs from Naruto. "I'll walk you home." She said to Naruto gently and she held his hand as they walked away.
She left Naruto at his apartment later as the sun began to set, she needed to be strong for one more person. She didn't bother to knock but walked in as she could feel his chakra wavering a little. He sat at his desk with only the lamp on, with his head in his hands, the blinds drawn and a privacy jutsu already in place. She turned the lock on the door and he looked up, both of his eyes showing how previous pain had come back to haunt him with the new pain of loosing a close friend, he hadn't cried… yet. She gave him a sad smile and opened her arms up to him and he was in them in a second, letting all of his grief and sorrow out and Sonea began to tear up from the pain that leaked from him. She fisted her fingers into his navy blue jonin top as he held onto her so tight that it was hard to breath, but she didn't care, she had to stop him from breaking at that moment and survive another night of grief.
She watched the funeral proceedings from the wall, behind the flame statue she didn't feel like she belonged there, she didn't know him well enough to feel like she belonged at that funeral. And so, she watched the sun rise and sent a sad song onto the wind for the grief-stricken and offered her support of a song. She left for the training field as soon as it ended to allow herself to feel her own grief again and let it out… Akatsuki will pay!
"Kaka-sensei, look." She woke up to a voice and before she could think, she had thrown a rain of iron kunai shadow clones and had flipped off of her back and in a crouched position, the rippling sharingan burning bright and she wasn't even Jyuubi chakra mode. Within that second Kakashi had suishinned behind her and had his arms wrapped around her to hold her down.
"Calm down, it's only us." Kakashi said with a slight warning into her ear. Her eyes softened and closed as she took a deep breath and returned to normal. Naruto and Yamato were walking over and Naruto handed her original kunai back to her and she reabsorbed it.
"Sorry, I'm not good at being snuck up on… So, you guys here to train?" She asked as happily as she could and Naruto smiled and nodded with a grin. Yamato got set and Sonea sat with him. Naruto created three clones and began with his developing technique and Kakashi formed a rasengan, this did not look good.
"This is as far as I've gotten." Naruto said with strained concentration.
"Alright, we'll test it by smashing it into my rasengan. Get ready." Kakashi warned.
"Huh, but what's suppose to happen?" Naruto asked with slight confusion.
"If your technique is almost complete, then my rasengan should be completely wiped out… Now, let's go." Kakashi said as they began charging towards each other. Sonea tensed for the worst, ready to jump in. They had passed each other and Kakashi's hand was smoking and Sonea caught him as he fell to his knees and took his hand by the wrist gently. Kakashi turned to look at Naruto and his eye widened.
"Yondaime?!" Kakashi said. Sonea just smiled and returned to his burned hand. She gently slid his damaged sleeve up and peeled off his glove with a bit of a wince from him and placed her hands around his to heal some of the damage with a smile still on her face, she pulled out a bandage and began wrapping.
"Kaka-sensei, are you alright?" Naruto ran over with panic, as did Yamato.
"I'm okay, just a bit of chakra burn. Your technique is coming along nicely, just a little bit more and it should be completed so keep working on it." Kakashi said with a bit of strain behind his voice and eye smile. Sonea finished bandaging his hand and helped him up.
"I'm going to take him to the hospital to get this cleaned up properly, and you will not argue with me." Sonea ordered and dragged him after her to the hospital.
"I really don't need to go to the hospital." Kakashi complained. Sonea was staring down with a concentrated frown on her face.
"I know… I know what you're thinking." She said quietly but Kakashi heard her.
"And what am I thinking Sonea?" He asked with suspicious intrigue.
"Team Asuma wants revenge… They will go as a team to avenge him but won't be allowed to go because they need a four-man squad, you're going to go with them, aren't you?" She said with hardened suspicion as she stood in front of him in the middle of the path and had an angry and sad look to her face… She had been crying earlier. His eye softened and raised up his good hand to rub the red circles under her eyes with his thumb. She looked down but back up quickly again as she pulled his mask down and kissed him and pulled back, pulling his mask back up and looked down at his flak jacket.
"Just… come back alive." She said, feeling a bit better and dragged him back to his apartment to clean his hand properly.
She watched Naruto training the next day as she seemed to stare right past him, legs crossed on the bench and her head resting on her hand, her elbow on her leg when Sakura came into the clearing and told them where Kakashi had gone.
"Kaka-sensei and Team Ten went after Akatsuki? Naruto asked.
"Yeah, they just left." Sakura replied.
"I see. What did Tsunade-sama say?" Yamato asked.
"That we're best suited to be their back up. But she won't let us go unless Naruto finishes his new technique. If you can't do it within twenty-four hours, she'll send another back up instead." Sakura informed them. Naruto walked over to the food pills and stuffed a few down determinedly.
"Captain Yamato, let's keep training." Naruto said determinedly and continued with his technique.
"It kinda looks like a shuriken." Sonea blurted out and Naruto regarded her thoughtfully before slamming a fist into his palm.
"That's it!" He said suddenly and ran out into the field and started to work harder. Sonea just blinked with wide eyes.
"What did I say?" She said bewilderedly. She continued to watch, trying to figure out what he got from her little comment as the day continued to pass by. She had been staring absent-minded again when she felt the mass of chakra, shaped like a shuriken, her eyes widened and she grabbed Yamato and jumped high to watch a massive crater appear below them.
"Thanks, Sonea-san." Yamato said with a bit of shock as they landed onto a tree. After the dust cleared a little, they jumped down to check on Naruto. Yamato began to explain how the elements are connected. Lightning is strong against earth but weak against wind. Wind is weak against fire, fire against water and water against earth. But this just seemed to lighten Naruto up as a strong wind could save a dying fire, like Sasuke. Yamato spent the last bit of his time testing Naruto's new technique and they were off when Sonea's twitching became excessive, she knew something was bothering her about the entire situation.
"Sonea… I can see you're bothered by something so… go on ahead, we'll catch up soon, okay?" Naruto said as they travelled up front. She didn't hear Yamato shouting after her as she transformed into her wolf form and took off and everything went by in a blur. She saw red when she saw Kakashi lying on the ground and being attacked by the man above him with metal wire things and lunged with blood lust as she entered Jyuubi chakra mode right away and tackled the man off of Kakashi and cut the wires invading his body. She had never felt so angry in her life as she watched the man, Kakuzu get up and face her, with Kakashi still lying behind her, her rippling sharingan blazing with hate. But Kakuzu fell to his knees with shock and pain. Choji and Ino came running up to them to make sure Kakashi was alright but he pulled out the cables quickly as two black figures came rushing towards them and Sonea became defensive again with a growl, low in her throat… Akatsuki would pay.
Choji jumped in front with his expansion jutsu and tried to squash them but ended up having to dodge as one of them entered Kakuzu's body. The mask broke and Kakuzu came alive once more and Sonea caught onto his techniques.
"He came back to life." Ino said behind her.
"He absorbed the lightning monsters heart." Kakashi said, as the other black creature was absorbed into his body and his stitches broke and revealed his body, made of the black wires.
"Even his main body is a monster." Kakashi commented.
"You have killed two of my hearts… It's been ages since anyone has done that… " Kakuzu said as wires snaked up from the ground and grabbed all of them. "Hatake Kakashi, I intended to replace the hearts I lost with yours but I changed my mind. I can stock up on hearts any time. Now die!" Kakuzu said as the two masks appeared again, readying a fire and wind combination and Sonea powered up a storm release attack to counter when she sensed Naruto and Yamato preparing a combo: Water typhoon vortex jutsu and within the steam, Sonea cut the wires off of their bodies while Kakuzu was distracted. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief.
"I've never seen you so beat up Senpai, thank goodness Sonea decided to take off on her own. Our enemy must be extremely powerful." Yamato expressed his view. Kakashi summoned Pakkun and sent Sai and Sakura after Shikamaru who had lure Hidan away. Naruto stepped up to the challenge of fighting Kakuzu. He created two clones while Kakashi briefed them on their abilities. He then used the clones to gain some experience then created three more clones as he prepared Wind release; Rasen-shuriken. The clones attacked him head on as a distraction for him to sneak up behind but at the last second, the technique failed. Kakuzu grabbed him and Sonea raced forward with Kakashi and Yamato backing them up with wood release, Sonea cut the wires with her blades, covered in lightning release and Kakashi pulled him away and she moved back a bit while Yamato attacked but missed.
"Let me try one more time. I'll finish him with my new technique." Naruto asked determinedly and everyone voiced their opinions.
"That's true. It's five against one. There is no need to cross a dangerous bridge like that."
"Kaka-sensei… Do you remember what you told me when I was training? 'The only person who can surpass the Yondaime is you. That's what I believe.' I know that teamwork is important. I also know that this is a dangerous bridge to cross. Even so, I… I want to cross that bridge alone. If I can't make it to the other side, I'll never be able to grow up. So please… Don't burn that bridge just yet." Naruto pleaded solemnly and Kakashi and Yamato allowed it. He went for rasen-shuriken once again but a clone was posing as the original and Kakuzu didn't see the original attack from behind and it was a success, Sonea blocked Kakashi, Yamato, Ino and Choji from the blast and watched as the technique ripped Kakuzu apart at the molecular level.