Soul of the Seal: The Ninja Adventures

by MrDust

EpFic1 The same village, the same life, but having one foxy friend will make all the diffrence. Please review, it's the whole point. (ON LONG HOLD, SORRY)

10. SOTS,1,02,03

(AN: For disclaimer, see my profile.)

(PS: And before you even have to ask, yes, I did 'it' on purpose. You'll know 'it' when you see 'it'.)

(PSS: I strongly suggest re-reading the previous chapter before this one, so as to get the events fresh back into your mind.)

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SOTS-1-02-03

Soul of the Seal - Story 1 - Arc 2 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - "It's All Because You Mist Me"

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Having just left Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke in a small cluster of trees, Kakashi rocketed back through the woods, trying desperately to get back to his third student.

He was struggling not to panic. Panicking wouldn't help anything. He was a jounin. jounin aren't supposed to panic.

He had made sure that Sakura and Sasuke were 'real' before dashing off, but it hardly made him feel any better.

He couldn't even figure out how it had happened. When the one Naruto had grabbed the rest of them out of the crowd, Kakashi still had his sharingan open. He had looked right at the Naruto, and wasn't able to see anything different that would have indicated him to be a clone. He had thought it was the real Naruto.

And because of that mistake, Kakashi's real student was in a fight with a cold-blooded assassin, all alone.

But could Kakashi be entirely faulted? It certainly seemed as if Naruto had planned it to happen that way. But the question Kakashi kept asking himself was, why?

Why did Naruto disobey orders?

Why did he stay behind?

Why was he acting so differently in this fight, as opposed to what happened with the attack from the first two ninja?

There was something worse to it all, however. Something, in Kakashi's mind. Something that reminded him of why he had stayed away from all this for so long. Why he had avoided taking on a team for these past years. Because of what had happened with another team that he had been in charge of...

Kakashi tried to push those thoughts out of his mind as he felt a strong chakra burst from ahead. He couldn't be sure if it was Naruto or Zabuza. Then another burst. And even as Kakashi was getting close to the encounter spot where he had left Naruto, a third chakra burst flared, bigger than the first two, and suddenly Kakashi was faced with walls of water crashing through the trees at alarming speeds.

Kakashi fought against the flood that was knocking down trees left and right. He jumped up through the tree branches, trying to get above the trees, even for a few moments at a time, until the waters started to lessen, then drain away.

Being able to move forward again, he nearly stumbled when he heard, from just ahead, a series of large explosions. Kakashi's hands were shaking with building anger. He intended to rip Zabuza into a hundred pieces if Naruto was hurt... Or to give Naruto a hundred lumps on the head if he wasn't.

Finally, Kakashi reached a point in the trees that he could see Naruto standing ahead of him. The blonde boy was looking over at a staggering Zabuza who was struggling to pull himself out of the water onto the bank. The water around him was turning red from the blood seeping from his wounds. He had several burns over his body. His sleeves were ripped and charred. Even the bandage mask on his face was singed, though the water of the lake had probably saved him from the worst of that. There were several obvious shards of broken metal sticking out of him, as blood leaked from the wounds into the water.

"What..." Zabuza groaned as he wobbly forced himself to his feet. "What are you...? I haven't known a kid as brutal as you since... myself!" He stared at Naruto with shock, and even a little fear.

'What!?' Kakashi almost couldn't believe his eyes or ears. 'What in Kami's name has Naruto been doing!? How could he have-!?' Kakashi's shock was interrupted by another.

"Grrr! So THAT'S why I wasn't feeling bad about killing you! YOU'RE NOT DEAD YET!" Naruto shouted in frustration. Kakashi was scared by that statement.

'No... Naruto... He couldn't... He couldn't be trying to kill him...?' Kakashi was wide-eyed as Naruto began making hand-signs. 'But he doesn't seem to... I mean, he's never...' He was having trouble reasoning the events he was seeing as Naruto continued, oblivious to his sensei's presence.

"Well I'll finish you for sure this time! I've been itching to try this jutsu out for weeks!" The boy gave a nasty, foxish grin as his hands finished, stopped on the tiger sign. "FIRE ART-," Naruto began inhaling a huge breath as his hands came up to in front of his face.

'ARGH!' Kakashi's left hand came up to cover his sharingan, that began stinging/burning in a way he had never felt before. Because of it, even his vision out of his own eye blurred slightly, making him unable to see the last parts of what Naruto was doing. 'What is this!? What's happening!?' Kakashi shuddered, trying to resist the urge to rip out his eye.

Kakashi tried to force himself to focus, and his regular eye widened when he saw his student suddenly get barraged with senbon down his left side. Kakashi whipped around looking franticly, and spotted someone up in the branches of a tree just at the edge of the clearing. The person had dark hair, seemed not that tall, though it was hard to tell given the circumstances, and the person was wearing a smooth mask with two small swirls of red paint. Kakashi was unable to discern anything more than that, but even as he reached for his kunai to attack the second enemy...

"-HELLGATE FIRESTORM JUTSU!" Naruto's voice shouted out, making Kakashi's head snap back around.

'The WHAT jutsu!?' The jounin gasped in shock, and despite being unable to let go of his left eye, was knocked back by the enormous blast of searing heat.

Zabuza, weak, battered and bleeding, was stunned by the flash that emitted from the blonde boy before fire filled his sight. A massive cloud wall of burning fury that reached out in every direction in front of Naruto. Not even an instant after the jutsu's activation, trees erupted into flame, the grass was scorched away, and Zabuza could feel his skin beginning to burn as the flood of energy rushed towards him.

As a killer, an assassin, Zabuza was slightly in awe as he beheld the bright orange and yellow chaos. But he couldn't help but also notice the flickers of white, blue... and black flames dancing here and there within the inferno. They moved in strange ways, almost making patterns... shapes... faces... skulls...

The flames roared forward as they sought to consume the wounded warrior. Zabuza only had time for one thought...

'The demon of the mist destroyed by fire. How very... ironic...' The ninja thought as his skin blistered, the fire was upon him, and something grabbed...

Kakashi was crouched down behind a large rock, trying to avoid the heat of Naruto's attack. He was fortunate that he was to the side and slightly behind Naruto's front field arc, but he was still feeling the effects as the grass around him smoldered. Had he been in front of Naruto, he had little doubt that he would have been in serious trouble. Kakashi barely managed to squint a momentary peek around the side of his protective rock to see the fire cloud consuming trees and reaching far out over the lake.

From the instant of ignition to when he ceased his effort, Naruto's jutsu only lasted about eight or nine seconds. He dropped his hands as he collapsed to fall on his right knee with a slight grunt.

Kakashi, hearing the main roar of the flames die away, jumped out from behind his protective boulder... and gawked at the sight he was confronted with.

All the ground in front of Naruto had been beyond burned. There were actually large areas that were red-hot to the point that stones were starting to melt away. The trees nearest the genin had crumbled into dead charcoal ash, while those burning further from him were well on their way to being reduced to the same state. The crumpled remnants of Zabuza's former sword, that had been off to the front right of Naruto, was already more than half-melted, and would soon be only a puddle of metal in another minute or so.

But as Kakashi slowly lowered his hand from his slightly stinging sharingan eye, the thing that shocked him the most, was the lake. The formerly calm lake, now a moderately boiling lake as steam began rising off it.

'That's impossible...' Kakashi was stunned. 'A body of water like that, to be raised from near ocean temperature to the boiling point... The amount of heat needed... Not even the Dragon Flame Jutsu has that kind of output!' Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted by the low voice of his student.

"Incomplete... Damn it." Naruto muttered as he was examining his handiwork as well. "It's still not working the way I intend it to." He grimaced as he tentatively pulled out one of the senbon in his left elbow.

"But it's close. It seems to only need a little more refinement in the conversion to reach the maximum effectiveness." Kyaena offered as she directed energy into Naruto's arm and leg. "No wonder these were so painful. Several of them are directly piercing the nerves. If not for me, you would have dropped like a rock." She frowned at the precision injuries as Naruto grumphed in response.

Kakashi was not stupid, despite how he acted some of... I mean part of... ok, all of the time. He had been worried about who had taught Naruto such a dangerously overpowered jutsu. But to hear what he said... If Naruto had said that the jutsu hadn't worked the way it was supposed to, then Kakashi could believe that someone had taught it to him. But Naruto had said that it didn't work the way he intended it to. Which meant that Naruto hadn't been taught it... He had created it.

'But how?' Kakashi, realizing that there was no sign of Zabuza or the other ninja he had seen, pulled his Hitai-ate back down over his aching eye. 'How could he have created something that powerful? He doesn't have clearance to access the archive materials necessary to... Wait a minute...' The jounin's brain started to fizzle from shock overload. 'He said... incomplete? The jutsu is THAT powerful, and it's not even at its final form!?' Kakashi resolved to find out how Naruto had managed to accomplish his feat... That is, who had helped him. After all, it was a short list, with Kyaena at the top. Kakashi started over towards his injured student. "Naruto!"

Despite barely being able to dodge the shuriken that shot past his head, Kakashi was a little curious about the surprised look on Naruto's face when the boy turned to look at him.

"Wha-? Kakashi!? What the hell are you doing!?" Naruto scowled in obvious annoyance. "You're supposed to be getting Troll-san and the others out of here! And tha-" Naruto stopped as his eyes widened, looking from Kakashi, to the senbon sticking out of himself, then back to the copy ninja. "Hey! What's the deal? DID YOU JUST ATTACK ME!?"

"WHAT!? Of course not! How could you even think that!?" Kakashi shot back as he knelt down next to Naruto. "There was another ninja, over in the trees. Presumably working with Zabuza." He looked at the senbon. "But he got away before I could get to him. Due to my being distracted." Kakashi gave a slightly pointed glare.

"Distracted? Just when you're attacked. Right. That's certainly believable. NOT!" Kyaena snarled as her fur rippled furiously.

"Then explain how I didn't feel any other KI around, I got attacked, then turn around to see you?" Naruto demanded as he grabbed a handful of senbon sticking out of his left forearm sleeve, yanking them out.

"Hey hey! Careful! Even as tough as you are, if you take them out like that, it could cause problems!" Kakashi tried to stop him, but Naruto just swatted out the rest of the senbon from his forearm.

"Oh take it easy. The ones on my forearm and lower leg were stopped by my weights. My belt stopped one or two. My upper arm will be fine, but I need a minute to get the others out of my thigh." Naruto stated in annoyance as he continued removing the rest of the senbon from his arm and shoulder, setting them in a small pile.

"Weights? What weights?" Kakashi blinked twice with momentary confusion.

Naruto looked up as he pulled the last senbon out of his shoulder. Rolling his eyes slightly, he set down the metal needle and pulled his left sleeve back to reveal a tightly strapped leather bracer on his arm over a chain mesh armor shirt. Lengthways strips all around the bracer were stuffed with solid metal rods/bars.

"On each arm, on each leg down just above my ankles, and my belt is weighted as well." Naruto pulled his sleeve back into place as he started taking the senbon out of his leg.

"How long have you been wear-, I mean, how long have you been using them?" Kakashi was momentarily stunned. "How much weight do you have on?" He blinked. 'And when did he start wearing mesh armor?' He thought with considerable worry. It wasn't something a twelve year old, even a ninja one, should feel the need to get for themselves without being told.

"I've used them for years, and I have no idea how much I have on. I just keep increasing them whenever I get used to them." Naruto responded with increasing annoyance as he tried to concentrate on getting the remaining senbon out of his thigh. 'Stupid chain mesh. Great against blades like swords, kunai and even most shuriken, but worth absolute zip against senbon that can slip right between the links.' He grumbled internally.

"Hey, three out of four is good enough. And it's the most flexible armor we can use without penalizing your range of motion." Kyaena shrugged as she reminded him of their reasoning.

"We'll talk about that later." Kakashi shook his head slightly to clear out his surprise as he remembered the original reason of his arrival. "As for now, I want you to explain just what the hell you were thinking, staying behind like that!?"

"I was THINKING that I was doing my job!" Naruto snapped as he took a small length of wire out of his left ninkit. "Which is more than I can say about YOU!" He bundled up the senbon and tied them up with the wire before placing them into his ninkit. Waste not, want not.

"What are you talking about? YOU'RE the one who disobeyed orders!" Kakashi snapped back as the two stood up.

Naruto, who had been looking at the steaming lake, whipped around.

"Genin, in a Manji defense formation, against an ex-ANBU mist-nin!? Were you TRYING to get us killed!?" Naruto jabbed Kakashi in the stomach. "You're first and only order should have been for us to get Troll-san out of harms way while you delayed Zazy!" Naruto jabbed him again, a little harder. "But for some stupid reason, you thought it would be fun to have us underfoot!" A harder jab, making Kakashi flinch. "You really thought we would handle that!? Sakura-san was barely holding together, and Sasuke was so damn scared that I actually had to stop him from killing himself!" Naruto's last jab was strong enough to knock the jounin back a few steps. "Or are you going to tell me that you somehow didn't notice THAT happen either!?"

"And what if I had ordered you away, and that other ninja had attacked your group!? I wouldn't have been able to help you!" Kakashi countered, rubbing at his stomach that was sure to have a slight bruise later.

"I'm not convinced of that! If this 'supposed' other ninja was really working with Zabuza to kill Troll-san, then why didn't they try to kill him from behind when our attention was diverted?" Naruto frowned in slight confusion over his own reasoning.

"Good question. But unfortunately there's no real way to know, unless we asked the person. It could have been for any number of reasons." Kyaena replied in her own contemplation.

"There are no certainties in battle." Kakashi tried to sound scolding/lecturing. "He probably didn't strike due to the unknown factor of what the team was capable of."

"Well..." Naruto looked back over the lake again, "One thing is certain, and that is that Zabuza is still alive." The blonde snorted in annoyance.

"What!?" Kakashi blinked in total bafflement. "You INCINERATED him! How can you be so sure he's alive!?" Kakashi shouted out in severe frustration. He was supposed to be berating Naruto for his disobedience, yet somehow, the conversation was not going his way.

"There are no remains." Naruto pointed to the edge of the water. "As it was, my jutsu would only have burned away his flesh. But there should still be a few charred bones left. But there aren't." He turned to glare at his sensei again. "And second, if there was another ninja, the one who attacked me, why didn't he continue to attack me? The most likely reason is that the senbon were to try to disable me, while the guy made a mad dash to get Zazy out of harms way. And the fact that we've been standing here talking for a minute or two without being attacked again, implies that they got away." Naruto frowned as he realized something. "If you had concentrated on going after them instead of wanting to yell at me, you might have been able to finish them off! You fool!" He pointed accusingly at the shocked jounin.

"WHAT!?" Kakashi gasped. "Your safety was my highest concern! I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that you had stayed behind!"

"I had to! To make sure the team got away safely!" Naruto shot back.

"You had no business trying to fight a jounin! You have absolutely no idea how jounin fight!" Kakashi scolded at the ludicrous of the thought. "He was way over your level!"

"I wonder how he would react to knowing that some of his own leaf-nin jounin buddies have beat on you in the past, and that's where you get your experience?" Kyaena snarled out, hating Kakashi for daring to doubt Naruto's judgment. But Naruto wasn't really listening to her at the moment.

"Well apparently NOT!" Naruto snapped at his sensei. "Or how else would you explain how the score now stands at leaf-genin one, mist-jounin zero!?"

"A fluke!" Kakashi sputtered. "An absolute once-in-a-lifetime freak fluke! But that's not the point!" He shook his head to shake off the ridiculousness of the moment. "I'm responsible for your life, for all three of your lives! You, Sakura and Sasuke! How do you expect me to protect you if you just disobey orders at random and go running off wherever chasing after rouge-ninja!?"

"HELLO!? We're NINJA! We live dangerous lives!" Naruto blared in exasperation. "I DON'T expect you to protect me! I expected you to train me to protect myself!" That statement held a smidgen of accusation. "You really expect me to believe that you'll be around for every danger on every mission I ever take!? Huh!?" Naruto glared at the older man expectantly.

"No, of course not! But it is my responsibility to make sure you LIVE long enough to get to that point!" Kakashi's head dipped slightly. "Yes, it's true that there is always a chance of death on any mission away from the village, but the lives of genin are considered more... well, it's just so much harder to loose a genin, one who hasn't lived as long as they should have." Kakashi's visible eye seemed to take on a tinge of distant sadness. "You genin are the future, Naruto. Being reckless and cutting that future short is a terrible thing, not just for yourself, but for everyone. You are extremely important to the village."

Although Kakashi had meant that last statement in a general sense, as in 'genin are important to the village', Naruto had misinterpreted it as being addresses to him specifically, as in 'You Naruto, are important to the village'. So the next words out of the blonde's mouth were, needless to say, absolutely abhorrent to Kakashi's ears.

"Important!?" Naruto scoffed. "Don't even try to play that route, Kakashi! We both know that I'm considered the most expendable member of our group! That's why I stayed behind as the diversion so you could get away!"

While Kyaena started screaming out kitsune words (that are better left un-translated) in sheer outrage of Naruto's opinion of himself, Kakashi was equally outraged, for different, yet similar, reasons. He lashed out to grab Naruto's jacket with both hands, intending to yank the shorter boy off the ground, only to find that the genin was a LOT heavier than expected. Kakashi couldn't even lift Naruto's feet off the ground, with the jacket in his hands threatening to rip before that happened. So he settled for getting as much in Naruto's face as possible.

"Don't you ever, EVER use that word again!" Kakashi shouted louder than he had at nearly anyone in years. "No one, NO ONE on this team is expendable! Do you understand me Uzumaki!?"

Naruto grimaced as he smacked Kakashi's hands away with enough force that there would be small bruises later.

"Will you CHILL already!? I didn't say I AM expendable, I said I was the most expendable! There's a huge difference you know!" He snapped. Kakashi and Kyaena both paused in slight confusion.

"Explain yourself." They both ordered in unison. Naruto rolled his eyes slightly at the similarity.

"Being just plain expendable would mean there is no value to my life at all, and if I were to die, there wouldn't be any consequences at all in the wake of my passing." The genin forced his explanation through grit teeth. "However, even in a group where everyone has a worth, being the most expendable means that I still have a place, but my loss would cause the least amount of problems or pain for others."

"And just how did you come to that conclusion?" Kakashi frowned in confusion and denial, but couldn't be expected to form a counter argument unless he had all the information.

"You're the big bad Kakashi Hatake. An elite jounin, though I don't know what else. You're not in my edition of the bingo book." Naruto stated flatly with a small frown.

"Bingo book!?" Kakashi's eye threatened to pop out. "How did you get a bingo book!? ... ... And what do you mean, 'your edition'?" He added as an afterthought.

"I snagged an extra one from Old-Man-Hokage's office. And it doesn't have Konoha ninja in it beyond the few... traitors... that are still alive. It focuses mainly on dangerous ninja from other villages. But anyways," Naruto waved it off, "You're strong, supposedly, you've got whatever experience and what not. So you'd obviously be considered an important asset. Loosing experience is always bad, so you're out. Then there's the Duck-Butt Uchiha wuss." Naruto tried to avoid the bad taste in his mouth. "The high-and-mighty last of the Uchiha clan. Do you have any idea how many times I've seen people from all over the village trying to suck up to him?" Naruto shuddered. "I don't know what they're all expecting from him, but it's obviously big. They wouldn't want his ugly foul-ass excuse for a head harmed in any way. So he's out. Then... there's Sakura-san." Naruto paused as his face softened slightly, but it was not a look of affection... it was one of painful wistfulness. "I don't know what she'll become, or how strong a ninja she would ever be, but she has something more important than any of our skills or strengths."

"Oh?" Kakashi blinked with sudden interest. "And what's that?"

Naruto, who's gaze had drifted off into nothingness, snapped back to attention as he locked a dead-serious glare up at the jounin.

"Out of the four of us... she's the only one who still has living family." Naruto stated as he lifted his chin slightly.

"Wha-? That's..." Kakashi sputtered in genuine surprise. 'Whoa-K, that was nowhere near what I was expecting him to say.' So stunned was he, that he unthinkingly went to correct his student's statement. "Uh, Naruto, I realize you don't know this, but Sasuke actually has a brother-"

"TRAITORS DON'T COUNT!" Naruto roared. "Nothing should ever be more important than family! What Itachi did was unforgivable!" Naruto spat, sending Kakashi's mind into stage 1 panic alarm. "In fact, I completely understand Sasuke's obsession with his revenge, my only problem is his attitude about how he seems to be going about it!" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Naruto! How do you know about Itachi!? What do you know!?" Kakashi gasped out in severe shock and concern.

Naruto paused as he blinked for a moment.

"You'll have to ask Old-Man-Hokage about that, I'm not allowed to say." The boy shook his head. "The point that I was making is that I consider you, Sakura-san and Sasuke important that you survive! I'm a nobody as far as the world is concerned, so if I have to take some bigger risks to keep the rest of you safe, I will!" Naruto suddenly shuddered as a most unpleasant thought ran through his mind. "Because I would never be able to face walking into the Haruno home and having to tell them that Sakura-san died because I wasn't strong enough..."

"Why?" Kyaena muttered quietly. "There wouldn't be anything to feel bad about, seeing as how that pink-haired slime isn't worth protecting..." She growled.

'QUIET!' Naruto mentally screamed, causing Kyaena to jump slightly in surprise.

Kakashi stared down at his student, trying to make sense of the points of views that the blonde was proclaiming.

"So... You want to keep us safe, because you want to spare others the pain of loss if we were to die?" Kakashi asked slowly.

"Yes." Naruto muttered, not willing to meet his sensei's gaze at the moment. "Especially Sakura-san. Because hers is a position in which far more would be lost."

"Well, what about you? Don't you think Kyaena-chan would suffer if you died?" Kakashi asked, hoping to finally get his point across. "Don't you care about her feelings-"

"DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO TELL ME WHAT KYAENA-CHAN FEELS!" Naruto's fury at Kakashi's words was strong enough that the twelve-year-old actually shoved the jounin back, causing Kakashi to fall back onto his butt... which happened to land on one of the glowing red rocks in the ground, still hot from Naruto's pyroclastic display earlier.

"YEAOUCH!" Kakashi screamed as he jumped around, swatting at his singed posterior.

"I've known Kya-chan my whole life! You met her ONCE for five minutes!" Naruto snarled out with a jabbing finger. "You have no right to even pretend to know what she thinks and feels, and no right to act so familiar with her! She and I have already come to terms about what will happen if I should die, so keep your damn nose out of it!" Naruto, despite his anger at the moment, couldn't help but still feel a twinge of fear at the thought of the deal he and Kyaena had made. If Naruto ever got into a situation in which death was an absolute certainty with no chance of escape, he would release the seal. He would die anyway, but at least Kyaena would live... and probably kill his killer, since it was unlikely that Naruto would die of natural causes... with a few exceptions.

The problem with that arrangement, however, was the fact that it's hard for anyone to willingly admit that they're about to die and not try to get out of it by pure instinct. Naruto wasn't sure he'd have the conviction to do it if the time came. Then there's the second problem that such a situation might not give Naruto enough time to release the seal. Even though the pair had done a few 'trial runs', it still would take Naruto about three seconds to release the seal, and they were both very aware that in the ninja world, that could be a very big gap of vulnerability.

Having soothed the burning sensation on his backside, Kakashi turned to face his student again, and was, quite frankly, starting to get pissed at the blondes attitude.

"So you don't want people risking their lives for you, yet you think it's ok for you to throw yourself in danger for others even if they don't ask you to!?" The heavily masked man demanded as he got back up in Naruto's face again.

"He doesn't seem to take a hint, this guy!" Kyaena growled in annoyance.

"Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do!?" Naruto raged back into Kakashi's argument.

Kakashi reeled back in surprise, knowing there wasn't any way for him to deny that statement. But that didn't mean he was about to let Naruto win the argument on this very important matter of mission safety... without a fight.

---

On the far side of the lake from the arguing leaf-nins, two figures emerged from the scalding hot waters, the smaller masked one of the two franticly dragging the larger wounded, blistered, burnt and bleeding man. And he was bleeding quite badly. Even though the metal shrapnel fragments were still lodged in his body, the hot water of the lake had caused increased blood flow from the wounds, as well as preventing them from clotting at all.

The masked and totally soaked through individual quickly reached into a pocket, pulling out a sealed packet. Ripping it open, they pulled out several smaller sealed packages, and ripped one of them open. He reached to pull down Zabuza's mask bandages, only to have the hand grabbed.

"What... the hell... are you doing...?" Zabuza groaned out.

"Save your prideful snarls for later! Swallow this blood pill before you bleed to death!" She shoved his hand away and pulled off his facial cloth, stuffing the small round pill into his mouth.

Once the emergency medical supplement was swallowed, the masked figure quickly made a few handsigns, and ice instantly began to form over most of the injured parts of Zabuza's body to prevent further blood loss or damage to the skin. Zabuza nearly howled out in pain from the ice contact against his exposed burns, open blisters and gashes, but a spare scroll was abruptly shoved into his mouth to keep him from revealing their position.

Satisfied that his partner was silenced, the masked figure began pulling out some more first-aid materials from her pockets, as well as some senbon and minute surgical thread. She then began to slowly remove sections of ice to work at the multiple wounds one at a time, not wanting to rush and make mistakes, but having to hurry because of the danger of having a wounded body encased in ice too long. He wouldn't want to heal up Zabuza's wounds, only to find the assassin dead from hypothermia.

With the pain being numbed by the ice, Zabuza let the scroll-gag slip from his mouth.

"What happened... back there?" He grunted through clenched teeth. "Why didn't you jump in sooner, Haku?"

"Too much was happening all at once. I was having trouble following who was who, and who went where when." Haku replied with a bit more composure, now that she believed that Zabuza's life could be saved.

"... Try again. And this time, be a little MORE vague, why don't you?" Zabuza tried to growl, but it came out as a strained cough.

"Quiet! These are serious wounds! Don't strain yourself right now! It will take me a while to treat these, and even then it will be difficult to get you back to the base!" Haku hissed urgently as he removed her mask so he could see a little better at what she was doing. "If you're going to listen, do it quietly. Now... It started when you tried to use the Hidden Mist Jutsu. That's when the blonde boy created all the clone duplicates. The problem was, they weren't normal clones. If they had been, I could have easily picked out the real ones. They were all solid, as was evident from their footfalls when they all scattered."

"Solid? You mean, shadow clones? Like Kakashi was using?" Zabuza blinked in disbelief. "So I was right about those kids. They must be something else if he is teaching them such advanced techniques already."

"...No, actually." Haku shook his head. "When the groups scattered, leaving the 'Kakashi' behind with you, I couldn't tell which ones were the originals, so I stayed to watch your fight in case you needed assistance, thinking we could always catch up with the others later. In doing so, while I was maneuvering around the trees, I spotted that some of the clones hadn't run off, but had hidden in the surroundings. Then they all transformed into Kakashi, save one." Her face tensed with seriousness.

"Eh?" Zabuza raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"I watched as you fought 'Kakashi', but they were all clones. You might have thought 'he' was using speed and substitution to maneuver around in your fight, but actually, all it was, when you cornered one and your attention was diverted, another of the clones would sneak out to take a position to strike at you." Haku had finished with Zabuza's right leg, and so she moved to remove the ice from his left to continue his medical administrations. "It was just to get you to use up your chakra while he observed your abilities and jutsu."

"Damnable Copycat..." Zabuza frowned in frustration. "Just wanting to steal my jutsu for himself..."

Haku actually paused a moment in his treatment to let her eyes meet Zabuza's.

"I'm afraid you're not understanding what I'm trying to tell you. You weren't fighting Kakashi. You never were. It was the blonde boy the whole time." Haku said softly.

"...What?" Zabuza blinked.

"After you had attacked with your Waterfall Vortex Jutsu, there were only two chakra signatures left. The clone you caught in you water prison, and the boy, who came out of hiding to confront you. When he was about to use that... disturbing fire jutsu on you, I could tell he wasn't going to stop until he was convinced you were dead. That's why I didn't use our planned possum extraction. I tried to disable the boy, but for some reason, he didn't drop when I struck at his pain nerves." Haku's near porcelain, albeit slightly red, face furrowed slightly. "I still don't know how he managed to stay standing, let alone be able to finish his jutsu. It was all I could do to pull you into the water to keep you from being killed. It was all the boy." Haku finished in a somber tone.

"B-but, it can't be! There were hundreds of shadow clones of Kakashi when they attacked with their shuriken! The boy couldn't have made them all!" Zabuza's eyes widened in disbelief. "No one has that much chakra, not even the Yondaime Mizukage could do that! Your telling me I just had my ass kicked by a blasted GENIN!?"

"A genin who caught and destroyed your sword with his bare hands, who showed no sign of intimidation at your KI, and who had the audacity to disobey the orders of his sensei, who is the legendary Kakashi Hatake." Haku responded, not even looking up this time. "I believe we may be in over our heads with this job."

The two fell silent for several minutes as Zabuza lay still, contemplating what Haku had just told him. Haku idly mused that he thought she could hear the faint sounds of loud arguing coming from the other side of the lake.

"I haven't lived this long by making careless mistakes." Zabuza said at long length. "That runt of a worm, Gato, didn't give us enough information. But I think it was because he didn't know, not that he withheld anything. I had thought this would be a simple kill. But clearly, we will have to be much more careful in our next attempt."

"And that won't be soon." Haku stated firmly. "You have to recover first."

Zabuza wanted to argue the point, but knew it would be pointless when dealing with his apprentice on that particular matter. So he settled for a grumble.

"Yes, I'll need some time to recover. But it can't be too long. The bridge is already more than three-fifths complete." The wounded mist-nin frowned. "After the Akuma-brothers failed, and now this infuriating debacle, there's no way that Kakashi will leave the bridge builder unguarded for even a second. Especially if the blonde freak can make that many shadow clones and still have energy for jutsu. And this is all without even knowing what the others are capable of..."

"I'm not convinced the other two genin are anywhere near the same level as the blonde." Haku shook his head. "Remember, though the blonde didn't flinch when you confronted them at first, the pink haired girl and the dark haired boy did show signs of fear. In fact, it almost looked like the dark boy was about to kill himself at the time, if the blonde hadn't stopped him." She commented with some curiosity.

"Regardless, we need to know as much about them as possible before our next attack. You will gather information on them while I recover. Use whatever means necessary, and..." Zabuza paused to consider something.

"... Should I try to eliminate them if given the opportunity?" Haku asked with a quiet voice.

"... I'll leave that to your discretion, but keep in mind, taking them out one at a time would alert the remaining ones and make it more difficult to get to them. But the group together may be too strong for you to take on alone. Even with your special gift." Zabuza muttered in disapproval of the whole situation. "If you're going to eliminate one, predictably, it should be the blonde. We don't need his firepower hanging over us. Try not to get too close to Kakashi, as he is an elite jounin. He might be able to sense your deceptions. And we still don't know exactly how his sharingan works. Getting information on him from his students may not yield much, and who knows how accurate it would be, but it will be better than nothing."

"Alright. I'll plan something." Haku nodded slowly. "But first, we still need to get you back to the base. And I think I might need some more herbs to treat these deeper shrapnel wounds properly..." His voice trailed off as she carefully extracted one of the metal fragments.

"What is it?" Zabuza flinched slightly as the intrusive shard was removed.

"I think there was something else. I can't be sure, but I think I noticed some tension between the genin. It could mean that they haven't yet had time to really come to trust one another. After all, didn't that one clone you were fighting say something about them only being three months out of the academy?" Haku asked with a slightly amused voice.

"I think it's clear that we can't trust anything that was said by that... boy." Zabuza huffed.

"Still, they are young enough to believe that they haven't been ninja for long, and the fact that they are apparently still genin, as evidence by their lack of standard rank vests that Konoha uses." Haku offered.

"And one of those genin is more dangerous than most enemies I've fought in a long time." Zabuza countered.

They fell silent again as they continued to think about the group they were up against.

'There's no disputing that the blonde is dangerous.' Haku thought. 'But with the fear the other two were showing, I wonder what they are going to be like?'

---

Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke were standing in the spot that Kakashi had left them several minutes prior. Tazuna was rubbing his butt, while Sakura was still rubbing her head.

"Owww... Why did Kakashi-sensei hit us?" The young kunoichi groaned.

"Something got his belt in a knot, that's for sure." Tazuna grumbled. He looked around for a moment. "Does it have something to do with where the runt is?"

Sakura blinked at the absence of the blonde of the team as her brain rebooted from Kakashi's 'crash'-down.

"Hey, that's right! It was one of Naruto's clones that was with us!" Sakura looked around rapidly. "But then, where's the real Naruto?" Her attention was pulled by the under-breath snarl of her other teammate.

"He stayed behind..." Sasuke was staring off in the direction that Kakashi had run off, back to where their encounter had been. "That bastard stayed behind to fight while he had his clones drag us away!" His hands were clenched tightly at his sides.

"W-what!?" Sakura gasped at the thought. "B-but why would he-?"

"Come on! We have to get back there!" Sasuke snapped as he grabbed one of each Sakura's and Tazuna's wrists, and yanked them along as he took off as quick as he could.

"Whoa, hey, hold it! What the heck are you doing!?" Tazuna gasped out as he tried to keep up with the boy, while at the same time trying to pull himself out of the grasp.

"Sasuke-kun, wait! Stop! You're hurting me!" Sakura cried at the uncomfortably tight grip on her wrist. "Kakashi-sensei told us to wait here!"

"Wrong! He told us to stay with Tazuna-san! So as long as we don't separate, we're not disobeying orders!" Sasuke's somewhat smug tone made it clear he was thinking he was sooooo smart for realizing that little loop-hole.

"B-but, I'm sure he meant for us to stay put..." Sakura whined, but started keeping pace with Sasuke to ease the pain on her arm.

"She's right! Your teammate helped us to get away, so it's stupid to turn around and go running back into danger! We should stay put and wait for your sensei to come back!" Tazuna argued, his attempts to pull out of Sasuke's grip repeatingly unsuccessful. "Hey, brat, are you even listen-" Tazuna's comment was cut short as Sasuke jerked to a sudden stop, releasing Sakura as he whipped out a kunai and held it threateningly to the old man's chest.

"Don't you EVER address me like that!" Sasuke growled out. "I am the last heir of the noble Uchiha clan! The oldest and most powerful ninja clan on the continent!" He pressed the kunai against Tazuna just hard enough to pinch. "You WILL show me the respect I deserve! Understand!?"

Tazuna didn't reply verbally, but he frowned down at the dark boy with an expression of disapproving concern.

'This boy is seriously off in the head...' The veteran bridge builder worried. 'At least the blonde hasn't actually threatened me, he's merely annoyed me.'

"Now lets go! I want to get back before all the action is over!" Sasuke snapped, taking off again, still holding Tazuna, though Sakura now jogged along beside them on her own.

The trio made their way back the way they had originally come from, back the way Kakashi had run off. Sakura was getting more worried by the minute. She didn't know what was going on. Part of her was angry that Naruto had fooled them and sent them off with a clone, but it was an amazingly small part of her. A second part of her was upset at how Sasuke was acting, and how she thought he was disobeying Kakashi's orders, or the spirit of them anyway. Again, it was a surprisingly small part of her. The largest part of her was thinking about the fact that Naruto had stayed behind to delay the enemy. A jounin enemy. One that even Kakashi was worried about. She had an increasing fear in her stomach that by the time they got back, there wouldn't be anything left of Naruto...

The thoughts of all three were momentarily distracted when they suddenly entered into an area that was heavily and inexplicably muddy. They all blinked in confusion as the ground had been solid earlier. They noticed broken branches of various sizes littered everywhere, apparently ripped from trees, but not from the ones they were laying under, but rather from ones they encountered a few moments later from further on. It was a bit odd.

They continued until they were reaching the spot they were heading to, and they began to hear shouting ahead. They hustled forward the last little bit until they stopped at the edge of the clearing, drop-jawed at the sight of the area of destruction, the smoking debris, the still slightly boiling lake which was attempting to fill the air with light mist, and their arguing comrades.

"-decision in the interest of the safety of the team!" Kakashi shouted at Naruto.

"I had already taken care of the safety of the team!" Naruto shouted back. "You should have gone after them and finished them off! So they wouldn't be any further threat to the team!" The blonde jabbed at Kakashi's stomach.

"Why would I need to, when you're so casually blowing up everything in front of you to wipe out any jounin that happens along!?" Kakashi jabbed at Naruto's shoulder while gesturing wildly to the badly scorched surroundings, some of which was still burning or the stones in the ground that were still red-hot.

"Well damn! Make it sound EASY why don't you!" Naruto threw up his hands in aggravation. "I'll have you know it took nearly every jutsu I know to beat that guy!" Naruto also pointed franticly at the seared scenery.

"Nearly every jutsu you know?" Kakashi asked with heavy sarcastic scrutiny.

"Well I doubt my sexy jutsu would have been all that effective in this situation!" Naruto huffed at the obvious. "With that last fire jutsu not quite finishing the job, I was, to be honest, starting to run short on ideas!"

"Oh, so you were running on short ideas?" Kakashi mocked severely.

"HEY!" Naruto grabbed at Kakashi's vest, pulling the masked man down nose-to-nose. "If you want a review on my ideas, I could provide a live interactive replay, complete with all the realistic PAIN feedback for your consideration!" The boy growled through clenched teeth as the two glared eye-to-eye.

Sakura and Sasuke were standing, utterly stunned at what was happening. Tazuna was hunched over, braced on his knees as he gasped to catch his breath, so he wasn't really paying attention yet. The genin found it hard to believe that their normally so casual and lazy sensei was in such a shouting match. Sasuke was looking around in disbelief at the damage done to the area, NOT wanting to believe what he was hearing. That Naruto was the cause.

Sakura was facing two feelings that were struggling to take precedence on her mind. One was relief that both Kakashi and Naruto were ok, and that the enemy jounin, Zabuza, was no where to be seen. The second, of course, was severe irritation, bordering on full-out anger, that she had been SO worried about Naruto, only to find him not only completely alright, but in an argument with their sensei, who had tried to come and help him.

"You were reckless, insubordinate, and incredibly SHORT-sighted!" Kakashi shouted point-blank in Naruto's face as he had grabbed the blondes jacket, shaking him slightly.

"YOU were reckless, irresponsible, and BLINDLY in error in judgment over the situation!" Naruto shouted back, giving Kakashi a few shakes in return.

"Hey guys!" Sakura called out as her aggravation won out.

"WHAT!?" Naruto and Kakashi both turned their heads to glare at the kunoichi, who 'eeped' at the sudden hostile attention.

"I, uh..." Sakura stammered, thrown of by the interruption.

Kakashi and Naruto both blinked at the trio for a moment before realizing that they were standing there.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Naruto blurted in alarm.

"I told you to stay put!" Kakashi gasped in equal alarm.

"Doesn't anyone know how to stay out of danger around here!?" Kakashi and Naruto shouted in unison, then glared at each-other.

"You left them alone!?" Naruto demanded. "What if there had been a third enemy!? They would have been in big trouble!"

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't disobeyed orders and caused this whole confusing mess!" Kakashi countered, then turned his glare to the other two genin. "And you two are also in trouble-"

"We didn't disobey your order." Sasuke interrupted, still looking around at the surroundings. "You ordered us to stay with Tazuna-san, not that we were to stay in any particular spot." He commented as if it wasn't even important, but his attention on the circumstances that had transpired in his absence was. 'There's no way, NO WAY, that Naruto could have done this himself. Not even the most powerful Uchiha fire jutsu could do this kind of damage...' He tried to avoid grinding his teeth.

"Sorry Sensei." Sakura immediately added, looking quite ashamed of herself, despite the confused and slightly annoyed glances she kept throwing at Naruto. 'How is he still alive? I mean, it's good that he's alive, but... What happened here?' She had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer, if she even got one.

"Kakashi-san!" Tazuna gasped, still catching his breath, "We need to talk." He glared at the increasingly frustrated jounin.

"Fine, fine..." Kakashi took several breaths to calm himself. "But not here. Let's get to your house, and we can talk there. We'll stick together until we get there." He snapped. "So let's go." He took a few steps before stopping and turning. "Oh, and Naruto..."

Naruto, who had been about to follow, paused.

"Yeah?" He asked suspiciously, eyeing the copy-nin.

"That fire jutsu of yours?" Kakashi waved to the lake, "As of now, you're forbidden from using it again until we get back to Konoha and talk to Hokage-sama about it."

Everyone jumped a good three feet in the air when Naruto's chakra flared up so hard that it momentarily manifested visibly around him as bright blue flames. It only lasted for one second, then vanished. Naruto stood rigidly, his left eye twitching furiously, despite his unreadable stony face.

"When we get back to Konoha," Kyaena started in a sweet and cheerful tone, "You will take my disguise form, pull him aside," Kyaena's voice turned to a nearly genderless roar of rage, "-AND BEAT THE BLOODY PISS OUT OF HIM!"

Naruto twitched a few times, trying to find his voice.

"How... How can you... forbid something... that... isn't even complete yet?" His voice was strained, nearly hissed through his clenched teeth.

Sakura and Sasuke both gaped at that tidbit of information, looking around at the scorched surroundings again. Tazuna didn't really seem to understand, beyond the tension in the air.

"It's precisely because of the fact it's incomplete that I'm doing this." The frown of concern and worry was obvious in Kakashi's voice. "I don't know how you were able to develop it, but it's too dangerous even as it is, since your control over it is obviously limited. I shudder to imagine what you intend it to be when it's finished. We'll discuss it later. Now let's go." Kakashi stated as he led them off again, directed by Tazuna to head to his house.

Kakashi didn't allow any more conversation as they hurried on, and he stayed between Naruto and the others due to the blonde's viciously sour mood. Tazuna said he wanted to wait and speak to Kakashi in private at his house.

Sakura was worried, nervous, scared, angry, relieved and happy all at once. The mission was getting more and more dangerous, and she honestly didn't know what to do. She was beginning to wonder if she would even be able to do anything if circumstances demanded it. She was wishing that Kakashi had decided to go back to Konoha before, but she didn't know if Kakashi would listen to her now. She had the feeling that it was at the 'we're in too deep' point. She could only hope that Kakashi would explain what they were going to do when they got to Tazuna's house. Sakura was trying to piece together what she knew in an attempt to fill in the gaps, and it was beginning to paint a picture that was difficult to believe... that Naruto had beaten an enemy jounin without a scratch. Or had he? The left side of Naruto's jacket seemed a bit scuffed, or slightly frayed somehow...

Sasuke was not happy. He was angry. He wanted answers, and didn't want to be kept in the dark. He wanted to know what Naruto had done. He intended to get his answers. It was just a question of how.

Naruto and Kyaena were soooooo pissed. Naruto had been working so hard to improve his skills, and when his efforts finally paid off, Kakashi goes and treats it like he committed a crime. Naruto was beginning to wonder if Kakashi really was a loyal leaf-nin, though the fact that the jounin had a sharingan eye didn't help the blonde's opinion of the man any. But there was one thing that Naruto and Kyaena discussed, and were forced to agree with. The evidence of the events and lack of Zabuza's remains convinced them that Kakashi was right, that there had been another ninja assisting Zabuza. But what confused the two was the fact that they hadn't felt even the slightest bit of KI at all at the time

While it was true that Naruto was so used to feeling hostility from everyone around him all the time, and therefore had developed not only a hefty immunity to it but the unfortunate habit of ignoring KI that was less than a certain intensity, he had also developed a slight instinct of knowing the difference between the feeling of someone wishing him harm, and someone who decides to harm him. There was a micro-line when someone crossed from the contemplation, to the commitment of action. Looking back, Kyaena theorized that was in fact the reason for the slight difficulty, not only with this event with Zabuza, but the previous attack with the two ninja from the puddle incident. Naruto hadn't sensed them, because they had not yet decided to act. Maybe they had been waiting for something. But that was past already, and Naruto was trying to figure out the next part of their mission. He didn't like that Kakashi had forbidden him from using his jutsu, but he wasn't very inclined to follow that order since Kakashi didn't seem to know what the hell he was doing. True, Naruto knew he had to be very careful with using it, like he did with a wide open lake to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. But he wasn't about to put himself or his comrades in danger. If he had to use it, he would. But for the time being, he and Kyaena decided to at least keep working on getting it to completion. It wouldn't be quite as wild then, hopefully it would be much more focused, or at least more directed. That was the plan, anyway.

Kakashi was having difficulty trying to figure out what to do. He didn't know how badly Zabuza had been wounded, he didn't know who the other ninja was or what they could do, he didn't know if there were more on this particular enemy team, he didn't know how Naruto could have possibly beaten a mist jounin...

And he didn't know how or why Naruto had abruptly switched attitudes again, reverting to his original state of anger, resentment and mistrust. It had been hard enough for the past few months just getting the boy to ease up and even pay attention during their team training sessions. Kakashi had thought that he was finally making progress with him, especially at the beginning of this mission, and now it had all be blown away. He was having trouble disputing Naruto's judgment on his own actions. In hindsight, he admitted to himself that he probably could have handled things slightly better. But he wanted to get to Tazuna's house first, and then he could take a few minutes to think things over.

They all quickly moved along, directed by the old bridge builder, until they came upon another village cluster, similar to the one they had seen when they had first crossed the water to land on shore some time ago, only this one was larger. Or at least wider. Naruto, or rather Kyaena, couldn't help but notice the unusually LARGE river running along the side of the village. And how the house Tazuna seemed to be heading for was not just next to the water, it was half on docks ON the water.

"Whoa, hey wait a minute!" Naruto shouted out in sudden concern as he sensed Kyaena tense up in fear. "Hey Troll-san, I thought you said you lived INLAND! That looks suspiciously like ocean water there!" He pointed urgently at the rolling waters.

"WHAT!?" Tazuna growled. "Why are you still calling me a troll, you little-!?"

"You're old, you're wrinkly, you smell of booze most of the time, you're foul mooded, and you work with bridges. I rest my case." Naruto snickered slightly, and even with her apprehension of the dark waters, Kyaena also giggled a little.

Sakura stifled a chuckled, Sasuke 'hn'ed, and Kakashi sweat-dropped.

"Ohh... If Tsunami had heard that reasoning..." Tazuna groaned as he shook his head, pinching his nose under his glasses.

"So spit it out! If this is where you live, why-?" Naruto started to say, only to be cut off by the grumpy old man.

"By 'inland', I meant, if you were to draw an outline around the outer edges of all the islands of Wave, and call that our 'national border', then I live 'inland' from our outer border. But as you can see," Tazuna pointed across the water even as the group was walking up the dock planks to his house, "This is the edge of this island, and you can see the next over there. But yes, this is ocean water more than it can be called a river. Why so concerned?" Tazuna raised a curious bushy eyebrow at the blonde.

"I made a promise to someone, and I needed to know so I wouldn't accidentally break that promise." Naruto huffed, but glanced down at the very loud squeaking and creaking that the planks were making under the group... or under him at least.

"So it is ocean water..." Kyaena whimpered tensely.

'Hey, don't worry. I promised I wouldn't go swimming in the ocean, so I won't. Besides, between islands as close together as these, it's more likely to not be as deep as out in the open ocean.' Naruto tried to comfort her. 'We'll be fine.'

Kyaena murmured an acknowledgement as Tazuna opened the door and let the group into his house.

"Hey, take off your sandals you midget pack mule." Tazuna said to Naruto when he noticed the blonde wasn't following suit like the others. Naruto shot a frown at the lot of them.

"Do you really think that any more enemies that come along are going to wait for us to put our sandals back on before taking them down? I don't relish the thought of running around barefoot in unfamiliar land." Naruto grumped.

"I really don't think that is going to be a problem for at least a day or two. Just be polite for crying out loud." Kakashi scolded.

"Yeah, it's not that big a deal. Besides, are you telling me that the big tough Naruto, future hokage, isn't used to a little dirt between his toes?" Sakura mocked innocently, smirking a little.

"...I swear, you people make mountains out of ant-hills..." Naruto grumbled as he kicked his sandals off to land next to the others. Stepping inside, he looked around.

The house was in better shape on the inside than it looked on the outside. The outside was weathered, with the dried wood looking worse the wear from the salty sea air. Inside was neat and clean. The walls and floors were a bit plain but still respectable. Things were set wherever they were supposed to be, all in order. And the oppressive smell of alcohol that Naruto had been expecting was noticeably absent. Which meant that someone other than the grumpy old sea-salt of a bridge builder lived in the place.

"You can set your backpacks down here, and have a seat." Tazuna said, indicating the kitchen'ish area with a table and chairs.

The others took off their packs, Naruto quite reluctantly as he frowned again at the creaking floor under his feet.

"Hey, Troll-san, how long have you lived here? Everything seems a bit rickety." Naruto commented as he pulled out a chair at the table.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna huffed in insult. "This house is study enough to endure any storm tha-"

CRAAASSHHH

Naruto had just casually hopped into the chair, which instantly broke without even slowing his decent, and he slammed into the floor so hard that the whole house rattled violently. A scream from upstairs drew the attention from the fuming blonde genin as rapid footsteps pattered across the ceiling, then echoed down the stairs, and a remarkably pretty black-haired woman in plain cloths rushed into the room.

"What in the world-?" She stopped when she saw the group. "Father!" She rushed over to embrace Tazuna in a very relieved hug.

The group had momentarily forgotten the blonde genin that was pulling himself off the floor, the back of his jacket covered in splinters that had thankfully not penetrated his back... much.

"Aha-ha-ha-ha! Tha-That was so damn funny! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Kyaena guffawed as she rolled around on her back, all fear of the ocean so close to her temporarily forgotten.

'No, it was NOT funny!' Naruto grumbled as he stood up, shaking off his jacket and swatting the leftover wood chips off himself. "SEE!? Rickety! Probably older than you!" Naruto shot at the old man.

Everyone turned to look back at the boy, and the woman gasped.

"What did you do!? That was a brand new chair!" She scolded harshly as she quickly pulled a broom from a small nook along the wall.

"What!? That's impossible!" Naruto shot back, trying to reclaim a little dignity by helping clean up the pieces.

"But, wait a minute." Sakura blinked in confusion as she looked back and forth between Naruto and the backpack he had already set down a minute before. "Naruto, how did that happen? You already took off your backpack, so, why-?"

"I have no idea!" Naruto shrugged in irritation.

"I think I do." Kakashi said with sudden amusement in his voice. "Naruto, just don't go stomping or flopping around. This building isn't like the ones in Konoha. It wasn't designed to hold your weight." Kakashi stressed the word slightly.

Naruto tilted his head slightly in confusion. Kakashi, who was at the moment standing behind Sakura and Sasuke, quickly made a gesture, tapping his forearms and holding them like they were extra heavy.

"Ooohhhh..." Naruto's eyebrows raised in understanding. "Right. Gotcha." He looked around with newfound caution at the potential breakable environment.

Sakura, who had not noticed her sensei's actions, smirked slightly.

"So maybe now you'll reconsider only eating ramen all the time?" She tried to make it sound like she was scolding him, but there was too much amusement in her voice to hide.

"I don't only eat ramen all the time. It's just that you only see me eating ramen when you're around." Naruto jutted his chin defiantly.

"Ramen? That's not very good for you." The woman commented. "And even regardless, you expect me to believe you crushed the chair just by sitting in it? You're no where big enough to weigh-"

"Now now Tsunami," Tazuna quickly interjected as he saw Naruto's eye twitch, "I really don't see the point in antagonizing one of the ninja who saved my life twice on the way here."

"What!?" Tsunami gasped, nearly dropping the broom. "Oh no..." She looked at the group of leaf-nin. "Father, are you ok? I mean... Are these really-?"

"Yes, these are the ninja I hired from Konoha. And things seem to be going about as I expected." Tazuna sighed as he sat down at the table, indicating for the others to do the same. "I'll tell you about it, but first, I need a drink... of WATER, I mean." He added hastily at the glares of Naruto and Sakura.

So with everyone seated at the table, except Naruto who remained standing in slight embarrassment, Tazuna filled his daughter Tsunami in on what had happened so far on the mission. From the attack of two ninja on the first day, to the attack that happened earlier this morning. When he got to the part of Sasuke leading him back to the lake, he paused, leaving out a minor detail as he glanced meaningfully at Kakashi. He finished with their return trip to the house.

"Oh my. This is not good." Tsunami frowned in worry, nibbling her lip in thought.

"Not necessarily." Kakashi offered. "Zabuza is no pushover. With him out of commission, at least for the time being, I think we'll have a bit of a breather." He nodded slowly to himself.

"What!?" Sakura squeaked. "The time being!? You mean that Zabuza guy isn't dead!?" She paled slightly.

"Not quite. But he won't be in any condition to threaten anyone for a while, not with the wounds I saw him suffer." Kakashi waved off her concern, but noted Sasuke's narrowed gaze at Naruto.

"But doesn't that mean that Gato will just send more after us?" Tazuna asked in worry.

"I don't think he has access to any more high level ninja at the moment. Zabuza is a renegade ninja from Kiri. And the two before him admitted to being under his command. I think Gato hired that group, being unwilling to approach a hidden ninja village directly." Kakashi explained.

"Wait, when did those first two admit that? I don't recall that." Sasuke finally spoke up for the first time since getting to the house.

"Ah... I had one final 'chat' with them after the rest of you had moved on." Kakashi admitted carefully.

"...So THAT'S why you didn't seem so surprised when Zabuza showed up." Naruto scowled at the jounin as his hands clenched. "And you didn't think it important to tell us." Naruto's near hiss made Kakashi flinch slightly.

"Don't worry Naru-kun, I'm keeping notes so we can tell Old-Man-Hokage all about it when we get back." Kyaena growled out as she was doing precisely that.

"I didn't want to panic anyone." Kakashi offered in his defense.

"You had advance warning, and yet you still... GAH!" Naruto growled out as he turned away from the group. "...I can't believe this... I can't believe you!"

"Now Naruto," Kakashi spoke, realizing that he wasn't helping his relationship with his students, "No mission, no plan is ever perfect. Besides, you disrupted what I had intended to happen anyway. But that's behind us now. There are things we need to discuss now so the mission can proceed."

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

"Since Naruto is so concerned over my actions or inactions to head off problems, I intend to go scout around to gather information about Gato and what he may be planning next, and in doing so also try to intercept any more enemies before they get to you and Tazuna-san." Kakashi explained.

"So what you're saying is that you're going to just take off and leave us." Naruto spat in disgust. 'Not that it matters, since I can take care of myself.'

"Got that right." Kyaena nodded sharply in complete agreement.

"NO, Naruto." Kakashi responded with some harshness. "What I'm going to do is put myself out to be the front line target of anyone Gato tries to send after you now. I will be shaking down whatever thugs I can find, getting information, and causing chaos so that Gato's attention will be drawn away from you." Kakashi leaned back in his chair a bit in thought. "It will be you three that will stay with Tazuna and guard him around the clock. Your shadow clones should help greatly with that, Naruto. You can use them to keep watch over whatever area you're in, especially when you're out working at the bridge. I'm guessing you have at least one or two flares in that portable junk heap you call a backpack?"

"Several, of course." Naruto huffed in insult at the insinuation that he would forget such a simple basic tool.

"Good. So with your clones as look-out, the real you, Sakura and Sasuke, can stay by Tazuna more, taking whatever shifts you decide on." Kakashi nodded as Sakura and Sasuke nodded in understanding. "I'll come back and check in periodically to make sure things are going smoothly. While I'm away, Sakura will be in charge."

"WHAAAAAAT!?" The three genin, and one kitsune, all gaped in shock.

"You heard me." Kakashi declared with no hint of a joke at all. "And what's more, I have a little training exercise I want you three to be doing whenever you're not out with Tazuna at the bridge. Since this mission is getting more dangerous, I'm going to be upping your training more from now on." Kakashi couldn't help but notice that Sasuke perked up at the mention of increased training... as much as an emo could 'perk'.

"B-but sensei," Sakura gulped, "Is that really such a good idea? Wearing ourselves out while-"

"No no, don't worry." Kakashi interrupted calmly. "What I'm going to have you doing will not be overly hazardous to you, you should be able to recover quickly after each session, and it will help you greatly in the long run." He gave them a confident eye-smile.

"Well, before you make any final plans or rush off to do whatever, I need to talk to you about... things, Kakashi-san." Tazuna said as casually as he could.

"Like why Sakura will be in charge?" Sasuke strained to keep the anger and insult out of his voice, being only half successful.

Kakashi paused to stare at the dark-haired boy for a moment before responding.

"To be blunt, I believe she's the most likely to keep her head on straight." Kakashi shrugged, paying no mind to Sakura's slight embarrassment. "Anyway, Tazuna-san and I need to chat, why don't you three have a look around." The jounin turned a eye-smile to the lovely young woman. "I hope we won't be too much of an imposition, Tsunami-chan, was it?"

"Don't try to get cute with me buster." She leveled a stern glare at the ninja. "I expect this place to stay intact for as long you're here." She gave a momentarily wary glance at Naruto, but then paused, and her expression softened. "But, still, thank you for keeping my father safe. You have no idea how much it means to me." She gave a slight bow.

"Yeah, don't worry. Keeping Troll-san here safe will be easy." Naruto snickered at Tazuna's slightly panicked face.

"...Troll-san?" Tsunami raised a curious and very well-defined eyebrow at her father.

"Ah-ha! It's nothing!" Tazuna franticly waved it off. "Just a little joke, that's all! Just something we were passing the time with on the way here!" He glared at the blonde.

"Sure, a joke." Naruto grinned. "And maybe as long as you're around to joke with, maybe this mission to piss off Gato will be some fun after all!"

"And getting to blow up some more stuff will be nice." Kyaena snickered with delighted thoughts of fire and victory.

"It's not going to be fun for you." A new voice behind everyone spoke up.

Everyone turned to see a very small boy, even younger than the genin, dressed in mini-overalls and a striped hat that almost looked too big for his head. An image of Konohamaru and his oversized scarf flashed through Naruto's mind.

"Inari!" Tazuna let out a delighted cry as he moved around the table, his arms open wide. "Where have you been off to!"

"Welcome home grandpa!" Inari cried as he kicked off his sandals and rushed into his grandfather's arms.

"Now Inari, don't forget your manners, greet our guests properly!" Tsunami scolded lightly. "These are ninja from Konoha who protected your grandfather on his trip back here, and are going to stay while he finishes building the bridge!" She smiled at that.

Inari paused in his hugging of his grandfather to look at the ninja who were looking at him. Then the boy turned to his mother.

"But mom, they're all gonna die." The boy's casual and simplistically self-confident comment was not well received.

"Say WHAT!?" Naruto stiffened up dangerously, and even Sasuke's unchanged expression seemed to become a bit darker.

"Now take it easy Naruto." Sakura cautioned warily.

"No one can beat Gato and his men." Inari grumbled, almost more to himself than directed to the others.

"News flash kid! We already have! Twice!" Naruto shouted, making Inari blink and look up. "How can you just walk in here, knowing nothing, and think you can tell us what we can or can't do!?" He took a breath. "We're here to make sure the bridge gets finished, and that's what we're going to do! You should be excited!" Naruto smiled a bit at the young boy. "When it is finished, your gramps here will be a hero! Bringing new trade to your country! Surely that's something you can be proud of!"

Inari stared at Naruto for a moment before giving an insulted huff.

"A hero? There's no such thing as heroes! You're just a stupid moron full of stupid ideas!" Inari declared with a trace of hurt in his voice.

"...What... did... you... say...?" Naruto's eyes narrowed, and his low voice made everyone tense.

"Stop Naru-kun! He hasn't done anything wrong, and even though we're not in Konoha, that wretched cyclops could make serious trouble for us, remember!?" Kyaena jumped up in sudden worry.

"Naruto, please! He's just a little kid! Go easy on him!" Sakura pleaded as Inari turned his back on the group, heading for the stairs.

"If you don't want to die, you should just go back to wherever you came from!" The small boy said over his shoulder.

"Inari, wait, where are you going?" Tazuna called out in concern.

"I'm going to go look at the ocean! I want to be alone!" Inari snapped as he walked off.

Naruto was still glaring after the boy when Tazuna gave a sigh.

"I apologize for him. Please forgive his behavior." The old man spoke softly.

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke all noticed the suddenly depressed looks on Tazuna and Tsunami.

"Don't worry, it's ok." Kakashi nodded. "So, Tazuna-san, I think we should have that talk now. You three, just don't wander far. After I'm done talking with him, I'll give you your training assignment before I head out." He waved to dismiss his team.

Tsunami walked over.

"Here, why don't I show you where you can put your things." She motioned for the genin to get their packs. "You can use this open room over here..."

As Sakura and Sasuke followed the woman, Naruto seemed to slip unnoticed as he disappeared up the stairs. Kakashi sighed to himself as he turned to Tazuna.

"So. What is it you didn't mention earlier that you wanted to talk to me about, but not in front of my team?" The copy-nin asked quietly.

"Actually, it's about your team. Or two of them, anyway..." Tazuna leaned in to tell the man.

---

Upstairs, Naruto was carefully sneaking down the hall, checking doors.

"Naru-kun, I don't think you should bother that boy. Just leave him be." Kyaena tried to reason, not liking the feelings present in her host.

'He said something insulting and dishonorable to both us, and himself. I'm going to make sure he knows it.' Naruto responded as he finally came to an almost closed door, out of which he could hear muffled sobs from Inari.

Naruto opened the door a hair more to see Inari on a table next to a window. He was hunched over, crying over what looked like a picture frame in his hands.

"No... No papa... No..." Inari choked out.

Naruto hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself, and entered the room, closing the door behind himself. The creak of the floor under his foot made Inari jump and whip around.

"Yo, kid." Naruto stood in front of the startled boy, his arms crossed.

"H-hey! Wh-what are you doing i-in here!?" Inari squeaked out in shock. "Get out!"

"Get out? Do you mean, get out of your room, or do you mean get out of this dangerous situation like you said a minute ago downstairs?" Naruto asked, not moving an inch.

"Both! Either! Whatever, just get out!" Inari cried, clutching his picture frame to his chest.

"Naru-kun, this isn't like you." Kyaena said in a very worried voice as her tails twitched around. "You-"

"You say, that Gato can't be beaten. That staying here means we're going to die, right?" Naruto asked Inari, ignoring his furry companion for the moment.

"Yeah, that's right!" Inari snapped, starting to get angry again.

Naruto leaned forward with a harsh face, making Inari cringe back slightly.

"Then why are you still here?" Naruto asked in a cold voice.

Inari blinked in sudden confusion, while Kyaena tensed in sudden understanding.

"Naru-kun, don't! If nothing else, out of respect for Konohamaru!" Kyaena pleaded.

'That's the very reason I am doing this. He needs to learn a lesson, just like Kono-kun did.' Naruto snapped back, before continuing at Inari. "If Gato is so dangerous, if staying here is a guaranteed death sentence, why haven't you and your family left yet?" He demanded, making Inari go wide-eyed.

"I... We..." The poor youngling stammered.

"Why stay? Why would your grandpa bother with the bridge? If just running away, if being cowards is so much easier, why risk your lives by staying?" Naruto pressed insistently.

"S-shut up! You don't know anything about it!" Inari tried to shout back, but his tears we returning again.

"I DO know. I know that this Gato worm isn't the only threat in the world." Naruto stated, straightening up again. "And your mother and grandfather know this also. THAT'S why he's trying to build the bridge. That's why he's fighting it. Running away solves nothing. Here, or elsewhere, there are always going to be dangers, threats, and people who are willing to hurt you to get what they want." Naruto paused, looking around the room. "You were born here, right? This is the only home you've ever known, right?" Naruto looked back at Inari who was shaking badly. "What's worth fighting for? Hmm? Think about that, kid. Our lives are only worth what we decide they're worth." Naruto picked up the stunned boy and dropped him on the bed that was to the side. "And even if you decide your life is worthless, it still won't stop Gato from trying to take it anyway. And trust me," Naruto's jaw clenched a bit, "You don't want to know what it feels like to have nothing... and then have that taken away from you."

With his final words, Naruto lunged out the open window, much to a certain kitsune's horror. The house gave a shudder at the sudden movement.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOOOOIIIINNNGGG!?" Kyaena shrieked, since Inari's window was pointed out the side of the house that faced the ocean river.

Naruto's leap propelled him beyond the edges of the building, as he came down, his feet slamming into the water as if it were solid ground, sending a huge splash out away all around him. He then quickly started running across the water, circling around to get back into the house.

'Sorry about that.' Naruto commented casually as he climbed back up on the docks.

"Sorry? SORRY!?" Kyaena was hanging by her claws, upside down at the top of the cage with every hair on her body sticking straight out like needles. "You give me the second worst scare I've had in fifty thousand years, and all you can say is SORRY!?" She howled.

'Uh... I'm... really sorry?' Naruto offered sheepishly as he paused on the docks by the front door to the house, looking out at the ocean water. 'Hmm. I don't know. The ocean doesn't seem so bad, though I don't really like the salt smell in the air. It's a bit irritating.'

"Don't get any ideas!" Kyaena cried in desperation. Naruto sighed.

'I haven't and won't break my promise. Take it easy. Have a little faith in me.' Naruto stood looking out at the water, waiting for the others to be done whatever it was they were doing as Kyaena slowly and nervously climbed down from the cage ceiling. There was nothing he could do on the flimsy docks... Well, almost nothing... Ideas...

---

Having set their packs and bedrolls in the room they were shown, Sakura and Sasuke, after accepting some simple cinnamon toast and orange juice from Tsunami, paused to collect their thoughts.

"All this seems like it's gotten really out of control, doesn't it, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked slowly.

"Hmm." Sasuke barely acknowledged her as he just seemed to stare off into space.

"Do you think Kakashi-sensei's plan is going to work?" Sakura shuffled her feet a bit. "If it does, it could mean that we can finish this mission without any more fighting!" She perked up at the thought.

"So you're a coward as well." Sasuke commented with no emotion.

"Wh-what?" Sakura blinked with a bit of fear.

"We're ninja. Fighting is part of the job. Either get used to it, or run back to Konoha and hide under your bed." Sasuke spoke uncaringly.

"B-but, not every ninja has to be a straight-out fighter." Sakura cringed at her crush's words. "And not every mission requires fighting, in fact, some missions require that fighting be avoided as much as possible." She offered. "But, even if we have to fight, at least Naruto's shadow clones can-"

"GRRRR!" Sasuke suddenly snarled and walked away from her, heading back to the kitchen.

Sakura flinched, but followed, noticing Naruto standing out on the docks through a window. She followed Sasuke into the kitchen where Kakashi and Tazuna were still seated.

"-can't really tell, but it's your responsibility." Tazuna was saying.

Kakashi looked up as Sasuke and Sakura came into the room. He sighed as he looked back at the old man.

"Yeah, I got it. I'll think of some way to deal with it." Kakashi nodded slowly.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's been a far more exciting and exhausting day than I'm used to. I'm going to get some rest before we get back to work on the bridge tomorrow." Tazuna got up from the table, but before heading off, he quickly opened a low cabinet and reached into the far back to pull out a smallish bottle. Hugging it tightly, he peered out the window for a moment, then quickly rushed upstairs as quietly as he could.

"Eh. Strange man." Kakashi shrugged. Sakura rolled her eyes at the man's continuing drinking habits. "Well, let's collect Naruto, then I can explain your training-"

"What happened with him?" Sasuke interrupted sharply.

"Eh?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow.

"What happened with Naruto and Zabuza?" Sasuke clarified. "What did you see? What did you do?"

"Ah... Well..." Kakashi took a moment to consider. "I saw a dangerous situation... I saw a very lucky genin manage to escape that situation without being harmed... And what I did was try to make him understand that it's never a good thing to think you can try to take on the world by yourself." The jounin replied, trying to sound wise.

"What about all the damage to the area? What was that fire jutsu you forbade him from using again?" Sasuke demanded a little more harshly. "Have you been giving him special training behind our backs?" His eyes narrowed with slight accusation.

"No, Sasuke, I haven't been training Naruto behind your backs." Kakashi said carefully, knowing what he was about to say next wouldn't be much better received than if he had said yes. "I've taught him the same things I've taught you. However, I'm not aware of what Naruto does on his own time. And remember, he has Kyaena-chan, who had obviously taken it upon herself to teach him anything and everything she can cram into his head." He sighed with wistfulness.

"Still hoping to shoot for the moon, Sensei?" Sakura smirked at the man's infatuation with Naruto's mysterious mother figure. 'No, not a mother.' She reminded herself with a bit of depression. 'Naruto never calls her that. Never. She's just the woman who raised him... and taught him... and seems to be the only person besides Iruka-sensei or the owners of Ichiraku's who ever give Naruto the time of day...' She tried to steer her thoughts away from that unpleasant track.

"Ah, well..." Kakashi eye-smiled as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"So SHE taught him that fire jutsu?" Sasuke ignored the flirtatious interplay of the jounin as he continued his questioning.

"I honestly don't know. I don't think so. I was going to take him to speak with Hokage-sama about it when we finished this mission." Kakashi answered as he stood and stretched a bit.

"It isn't right that Naruto is learning such powerful jutsu. First the shadow clones, now this?" Sasuke glared.

"And... I hate to admit it," Sakura gulped lightly, "But I'm a bit envious of that super-strength of his."

"Naruto learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu under unusual circumstances, and it was Hokage-sama himself that decided it was alright for him to use it." Kakashi clarified. "Everything else, Naruto has apparently been doing on his own. Don't worry, I'm going to talk to him about it."

"You should teach... us, those jutsu." Sasuke cleared his throat a bit. "You're always saying that teamwork is so important. How can there be a team if only one of us is getting more training than the others?"

"You're not hearing me, Sasuke." Kakashi frowned under his mask. "I haven't taught Naruto anything that I haven't taught you. He's obviously been training on his own. With Kyaena-chan's help, of course."

"So get her assigned to the team, to teach us as well." Sasuke stated with growing impatience.

"Can't. She's not a ninja. She's a civilian." Kakashi shrugged with mock helplessness.

"What?" Sakura blinked in great surprise, and even Sasuke seemed a bit confused. "How can that be? How can she be helping Naruto with his ninja training if she isn't...?" Sakura trailed off in confusion.

"Well, it's not like I haven't wanted to ask her, but I haven't had the chance. And it's just a bit inappropriate to pry into Naruto's personal life." Kakashi shook his head, ignoring his own hypocrisy, since he'd been trying to get Naruto to re-introduce him to Kyaena for months.

"I wasn't aware the loser had a personal life." Sasuke snorted. "And besides, if this is relevant to our training, can't you force her to do it?"

"NO, Sasuke." Kakashi snapped at the outrageous suggestion. "I can't force a civilian-"

"But that's just it." Sasuke interrupted. "As a civilian, if she knows things about ninja training, if she's capable of teaching people powerful jutsu, what's to stop her from selling her services to other villages?" Sasuke smirked when Kakashi stiffened. "I don't think certain people would be very happy to find out about that kind of security risk."

"What!?" Sakura squeaked. She didn't like where the conversation was headed at all. Neither did Kakashi.

'I so did not need this.' The jounin thought rapidly. 'If what I've heard from Hokage-sama and Iruka is any indication, if Naruto hears anyone suggesting that Kyaena-chan would do something like that, we'll have a MAJOR problem on our hands.' Kakashi leaned back carefully to peek out the window, making sure that Naruto was still out side, or at least out of ear-shot. 'But as much as I hate to admit it, if others find out what Kyaena-chan has managed to teach Naruto, there might be some who would call to have her questioned, at the very least.'

"S-sensei?" Sakura asked nervously, noting the jounin's hesitation.

"Look you two," Kakashi turned back to the pair, "This isn't a matter that you need to worry about. I'll be dealing with Naruto about certain matters in my own way in my own time. However..." He thought for a moment. "If perhaps... you want to ask him about what kind of training he does, maybe that could be something you all could share. You know, some quality team bonding time?" He eye-smiled. 'And having them keep an eye on each-other while I'm off hunting Gato would be a very good thing.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"You really think Naruto would be willing to help us out with training?" Sakura asked with surprise and a trace of hope. "But he's always avoided talking about what he does on his own. He says that we should only worry about what you teach us for the team, and we each have the right to the privacy of our own personal time."

"...He did? Naruto said THAT?" Kakashi blinked in surprise. 'Mature, yes. Responsible, quite possibly. Team oriented? Not so much.' He inwardly grimaced. 'He inadvertently encouraged teamwork, by suggesting walls between it's members.'

"Well, it was a while ago..." Sakura muttered, embarrassed. "But, maybe he's changed his mind!"

"He'd better have." Sasuke's brow furrowed. "At the very least, he has to teach us the Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Sasuke, I believe you're aware that it is a forbidden A-rank ninjutsu, right?" Kakashi asked. Sakura's eyes nearly popped out.

"WHAT!?" She shrieked in disbelief. "Th-that...! N-Naruto knows an A-rank jutsu!?" She gasped.

"A forbidden one. And it's forbidden for a reason. So you shouldn't get your hopes up on learning it." Kakashi stated.

"Then WHY does Naruto know it!?" Sasuke demanded through grit teeth. "Why is he allowed to use it!?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't really go into the specifics." Kakashi shook his head. "In a nutshell, Hokage-sama realized Naruto could use it without it's detrimental risk, so he allowed Naruto to continue using it. Now, I think we've talked enough. Let's get Naruto, and I can show you the training you'll be doing." Kakashi said with finality as he walked past them, headed for the front door. 'Somehow, I doubt Sasuke would take kindly to the information that Naruto has ten times more chakra than the lot of us put together. I only hope they can keep focused.' He sighed to himself.

Sakura and Sasuke followed behind their sensei, neither knowing what was going to happen next. One curious, one frustrated. The put on their sandals and stepped outside, finding Naruto seated on top of one of the dock posts, preoccupied with writing in a scroll.

'Now what is he up to?' Sakura wondered. "Hey Na-"

"YEEEAHHHH!" Naruto jumped with a start, momentarily juggling his scroll and pen until he snatched them back, clutching them tightly to his chest. "Will you PLEASE not do that, Sakura-san!?" He gasped.

Kakashi and Sakura sweat-dropped, while Sasuke had an emotionless face.

'And we're supposed to believe he trains all the time?' All three thought simultaneously.

"Ah, ok Naruto. Grab your sandals. I'm going to show you three what I want you training on." Kakashi announced.

Naruto nodded, rolling up his scroll and putting the pen into it's open core before shutting it.

"Ok, just let me grab my sandals and backpack, and I'll be right out." Naruto said as he walked towards the door.

"No, you don't need your pack, Naruto." Kakashi waved off casually. "Not for what I have in mind."

"Doesn't mean I can't bring it." Naruto called from inside. A moment later he came out, fully geared. "Ok. Ready."

"Naruto, why would you want to bring all that along if you don't need to?" Sakura asked with a bit of an eye twitch.

"...I can't believe you actually had to ask me that." Naruto frowned.

"I swear that pink hair of hers is some kind of weird brain-acid or something. She is such a DITZ!" Kyaena snorted in disgust as she fidgeted nervously whenever a board under Naruto's foot creaked.

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura snapped. "I'm just talking about a little common sense!"

"So am I!" Naruto snapped back. "'Better to have and not need, than to need and be without'! What if we're attacked again? I am going to be ready at all times! I would think, as a responsible kunoichi, you'd have thought along those lines also!" He huffed, marching off the docks, to Kyaena's relief.

"Well SOOORRRRY! Not everyone is as totally PARANOID as you are!" Sakura shouted with a major tick on her forehead.

"That's enough already. Let's go." Kakashi ordered with a hint of frustration.

Kakashi let the three fuming genin just beyond the village, into the forest a small ways. Reaching a moderate opening between trees, he stopped, looking around, and nodded to himself.

"This is it?" Sasuke asked, unimpressed.

"It'll serve well enough." Kakashi said, turning to regard his team. "Alright. Now, I want you all to remember, it is NOT normal for genin to be allowed to participate in A-rank missions. But as long as you're being exposed to this kind of danger, it's necessary for all of you to maximize the efficiency of your skills. One of the best ways to do that, is to have complete mastery of your chakra." Kakashi stated, trying to sound teacher-ish.

"That's a complete contradiction to what you were yelling at me before." Naruto stated flatly. "I was trying to maximize my efficiency-"

"There's a difference between efficiency and recklessness, Naruto." Kakashi snapped. "Now be quiet. As I was saying, let's start by discussing the basics of chakra. Sakura, perhaps you'd like to take a shot at defining chakra?"

"Insulting us isn't going to help us progress any." Naruto glared with his arms crossed. "Do you really think we could even BE genin if we didn't know what chakra is?"

"Ok then Smarty-san, why don't you explain what chakra is." Kakashi glared back.

Naruto thought for a moment, with Kyaena growling out her disapproval.

"Nah, I'll pass." Naruto shrugged. "If I explained all of it, we'd be here for days. Let Sakura-san do it. I'm sure she can summarize it easily enough."

"Fine, fine. Sakura, please?" Kakashi sighed as he waved her on.

With a bit of hesitation and embarrassment, Sakura recapped, almost word for word, the bare minimum basics of chakra as she had learned from Iruka's class. The most simplified theory of the interplay of physical and spiritual energy, and the addition of shaping the chakra with handsigns.

'I'm still astonished they let genin graduate with such a feeble understanding of chakra.' Naruto thought, barely listening to his red garbed teammate.

"It's not your responsibility to change that... yet." Kyaena snuffed, trying to clean and straighten out her fur from her nervous scares earlier.

"Yes Sakura, that's very good!" Kakashi praised as the kunoichi finished her speech. "Iruka really did have some good students after all!"

"Gee..." Sakura blushed with a grin.

"Can we get on with it already?" Sasuke said, seemingly bored and annoyed. "We already know how to use ninja techniques."

"Wrong! You have not yet mastered your chakra!" Kakashi scolded lightly.

"Hmph! I've got ten jutsu and a training schedule that say otherwise." Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke's neck nearly cracked when his head whipped around to glare at the blonde next to him.

"What? TEN jutsu!?" Sakura gasped.

"You're lying." Sasuke stated in challenge. 'That's impossible! Even I only know four jutsu at the moment!' He refused to accept it.

"No I'm not. And I'm not even counting the academy basics." Naruto lifted his chin, but showed no sign of pride in his statement.

'WHAT!? NO!' Sasuke inwardly seethed in shock. 'Three of my jutsu are the academy required ones! Which means I only know ONE compared to his ten!'

"And what jutsu do you know, if you don't mind me asking?" Kakashi spoke up. 'Well, I was going to ask him about his fight anyway. At least this way, I don't have to have him explain the whole thing in front of the others.' He reasoned to himself.

"Two general jutsu, two wind jutsu, two lightning jutsu, three fire jutsu and an earth jutsu." Naruto listed off casually. Kakashi's eye widened so much it hurt.

'That's impossible! No genin, no matter how much of a genius they are, could learn EIGHT elemental jutsu in only three months!' The jounin feared his heart might stop. 'He's still unaware of the learning ability of shadow clones as far as I know, so... the only possible way... is if... he...' For a split second, Kakashi suffered a minor hallucination in which he saw Naruto standing in an open grass field on a sunny day, a long white coat hanging over his usual orange jumpsuit as he twirled the Hokage hat on a finger with a sincere and confident smile on his face.

"No way! How could you have learned that many jutsu!?" Sakura gasped. "Especially when I distinctly remember you saying at the start of this mission, that you had cut down your training time!?"

"Correction, my training time has been cut down due to the schedule of working with the team." Naruto said with an unhappy look on his face. "And what do you do when you have lots you want to get done, but don't have enough time to do everything?" He paused to let Sakura think for a moment. "You prioritize! Since I've had eight years of physical training already, I decided that I could cut that down to nearly nothing for the time being, and focus on my chakra and jutsu studies!"

Everyone was silent as they absorbed that information.

Kakashi was having a hard time not gaping at his blonde student.

Sasuke was infuriated that it seemed that Naruto was having extra training by some woman that he knew nothing about.

Sakura was glancing back and forth between her two teammates and her sensei, feeling confused and a little nervous.

"Well," Kakashi cleared his throat at last, getting the attention of the genin, "If you're really that far along, then I'm sure you'll be able to help out with this training. An exercise to help you learn to focus, balance, and maintain your chakra. Because that is a key ability for all ninja. Every jutsu and skill requires different amounts of different balances of chakra. Getting it wrong will cause the effectiveness of the jutsu to drop, or at worst, it would fail completely without any effect at all. Even if you can generate a lot of chakra, if you don't know how to balance that chakra properly, you just wind up wasting so much energy, which leaves you exhausted and unable to fight. Fortunately, there's a variety of ways to help you develop this skill."

Naruto blinked at the man, then looked up at the trees around the group. With a frown, he was about to question what he believed to be a ridiculous question, but was stopped by his personal confidant.

"Wait a minute Naru-kun. If he really believes you can't do this simple task, then let him think that." Kyaena suggested thoughtfully.

'What? Why?' Naruto paused.

"Because if he leaves you to 'practice' wall-walking, once he takes off, we can simply return to our own brainstorming." Kyaena smirked, as did Naruto, though he managed to cover it well.

"Well, Sensei? What's the training we're going to do? How do we do it?" Sakura asked, now eager to improve herself having heard about her teammates achievements. 'And maybe I can impress Sasuke-kun in the process! CHA!' She thought gleefully.

Kakashi, who had noted Naruto's momentary flicker of thought, gave a cheerful eye-smile.

"How? Why, you climb trees of course!" Kakashi snickered.

Naruto sweat-dropped, while Sakura and Sasuke both looked thoroughly confused now.

"Whhhhaaat!?" Sakura screamed. "Climb trees!?"

"Yes, that's right. Only there's one special rule. No hands allowed." Kakashi wiggled his fingers at them. "Think I'm kidding? Well, just watch." Kakashi made a deliberate show of making a handsign, and a little dust kicked up around his feet. Then he walked over to a tree, put a foot on it, and started walking up the trunk.

Naruto suppressed a snort-laugh at the dumb-struck looks on his teammates faces.

"He's climbing..." Sasuke muttered in surprise.

"Straight up! And he's only using his feet!" Sakura gasped in disbelief. Naruto wanted to groan at their declarations.

'How embarrassing...' He thought to himself. 'Living in a ninja village, how can one NOT know this technique? It's the best way to get around!' He looked up at his team leader with a dead-pan expression. Kyaena hummed in agreement.

"Well, I think you get the idea now." Kakashi called, hanging upside-down from a rather thick branch over twenty feet up. "You focus your chakra to the souls of your feet, and use it to connect to the tree. You will learn to draw and maintain chakra to a specific part of the body, and the souls of the feet is the most difficult spot to do this."

"Wait a minute!" Sakura called out. "That's an interesting trick, but how is it supposed to make us stronger?"

"Chakra control is the very base of all ninja abilities. The greater your control, the more effective your skills. If you can master this, you can master any jutsu! Well, in theory, anyway." Kakashi explained. "This exercise will also help you learn to monitor, maintain, and even increase your levels of chakra. This is also necessary for ninja, especially in battle, where it's even harder to think about such things. So you have to practice until you don't have to think about it. Practice until it's second-nature to you." He pulled a pair of kunai from his holster. "Well, I could talk all day, but that won't advance your skills." He leapt off the branch, spinning in mid air as he threw the kunai. One hit in front of Sakura, the other in front of Sasuke. Kakashi landed effortlessly, and stood to regard them. "You will use the kunai to mark your progress at the highest point you can climb, without using your hands. Then, try to get past that mark on the next attempt. Then the next, and the next. At first, you'll have to run at the tree so your momentum can take you as high as possible... until you get used to it. Got it?"

Sakura and Sasuke picked up the kunai, and Sasuke shot a confident smirk at Naruto who was just slowly pulling out a kunai of his own.

"Think you can keep up, loser?" Sasuke quipped.

"Actually, I need to talk to Naruto for a moment, so you two can start first." Kakashi ordered, point to the trees. "So get to it!"

Sasuke's face went blank at his sensei's order. He and his female teammate duplicated the handsign Kakashi had used, and tried focusing chakra to their feet. They took off running, each aiming for different trees. Sasuke started up his tree, making it up about ten steps before the bark cracked under his feet, making him slash the bark as he was pushed back off the tree. He landed in a hard crouch, then looked back up at his first attempt.

'This is harder than Kakashi-sensei made it look. Now I understand what he was saying. The balance of chakra in your feet has to be just right. To much chakra, and you crush the bark, being pushed away. But if it's not enough, you probably won't stick at all, and slip right off.' Sasuke analyzed his feel for the exercise.

Naruto and Kakashi were watching. Kakashi thought that was about what would be expected from Sasuke's level. Naruto was internally laughing at the emo.

"Hey, this is pretty easy!" Sakura's voice called out, making the three males look up.

Sakura was almost thirty feet up, sitting easily on a branch with her kunai stuck in the trunk next to her. Naruto raised an eyebrow in notice, but Sasuke's face hardened.

"Well! It looks like the kunoichi of the group has great chakra control!" Kakashi praised. "And she's not even from a major ninja clan! Maybe there's nothing to a name after all, eh, Sasuke?" He chuckled.

"Are you ever going to stop lying, Kakashi?" Naruto muttered real quietly so the others couldn't hear. "Or are you adding 'false praise' to your repertoire?"

Kakashi stiffened.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Sasuke!? Keep going until you get it right! And Sakura, you keep going as well. Just because it's easy now, doesn't mean you're used to it yet!" Kakashi called, still trying to sound cheerful, although his fist was clenched a bit. "And you come with me, Naruto."

Naruto shrugged as he followed the jounin a bit away, leaving the others to continue.

'Damn you Sensei! I wanted to impress Sasuke-kun, but now he's angry with me!' Sakura thought in aggravation as she made to climb down, trying to ignore Sasuke's glares.

Kakashi and Naruto walked just a little away from the others until Kakashi was reasonably certain they were out of ear shot.

"What is your problem, Naruto!?" The jounin whirled on the boy, who had been expecting it.

"It's really quite simple. I don't trust you." The blonde replied in a near monotone.

"But I thought we had gotten over that!" Kakashi tried to convey his concern, hard to do with 3/4 of his face covered. "What about what you said after the first attack, that-"

"That was true, but even if I acknowledge your risks as a comrade, it doesn't mean I trust you. A fact that you are continuing to prove with the more actions and words you put out." Naruto growled.

"Will you please explain why you don't trust me?" Kakashi asked, trying to calm himself down.

"You constantly lie and mislead us, and you have to ask?" Naruto shot back. "And don't give me that 'deception is part of a ninja's skills' crap! It's one thing to know and tell us you know but it's not safe for us to know, and quite another to completely ignore us and throw us around like worthless cannon fodder!" Naruto let a small grin out. "Maybe I'll have to write my own report about this mission when we get back."

"Is that what you were writing when you were sitting on the docks?" Kakashi asked, perfectly concealing his worry.

"No, I was jotting down jutsu ideas I got from my fight with Zazy-chan." Naruto replied as his eyes narrowed warily.

Kakashi was silent for a moment.

"So, you keep notes on all your jutsu?" He asked with a half curious, half conversational inflection.

"Duh." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"And that includes that firestorm jutsu of yours as well?" Kakashi shifted his feet a bit.

"Nice try. But I don't have it with me. It's back in Konoha." Naruto smirked.

"...Fine. But remember, your forbidden from using that jutsu again on this mission. We'll talk about it with Hokage-sama when we get back to Konoha." Kakashi relented, being unhappy with his compromise.

"Whatever. Can I get to my chakra control training now?" Naruto thumbed back over his shoulder to his teammates.

"And now I give you a 'nice try'." Kakashi shook his head. "I know that the chakra-enhanced strength you use takes extremely high control. What level are you at? I know you're way past tree-climbing." He stared expectantly at the boy in front of him.

"Damn. So much for avoiding that." Kyaena grumbled.

"...I'm about half way through the flow-splitting exercise, which I obviously can't do here due to a lack of waterfalls." Naruto said after a moment.

Kakashi nearly choked on his mask. After several seconds to compose himself, he gave that information a little thought.

"Alright, then you can help oversee the other's training, and can use your shadow clones to keep an eye on Tazuna-san in the process." Kakashi stated. "If they get the tree-climbing exercise down, show them water-walking."

"Whoa, wait a minute. Let me get this straight." Naruto held up a hand. "Sakura-san will be in charge of the team, but you're putting me in charge of the training?" He asked incredulously.

"Yep!" Kakashi eye-smiled.

"And how do you think they'll take that?" Naruto asked, but obviously referring to Sasuke more than Sakura.

"You know, Naruto, maybe if you would try being a little more helpful to your teammates, you could get along a little better." Kakashi offered as he started walking back to the others with Naruto in tow. But then he paused. "By the way, Naruto. You listed some jutsu you know, but named each of the elements except water. And you said you were taking notes from your fight with Zabuza, who I know is a water element fighter. You mean to say that you haven't tried to learn water jutsu, or just haven't gotten to it yet?" Kakashi asked with genuine interest.

Naruto's eyes widened.

(NARUTO'S FLASHBACK)

It's true that the academy can be a noisy place with so many students doing so many different lessons. But rarely are there frantic screams of panic and pain.

"AAAHHHH! AHHHH! HELP! HELP IRUKA-SENSEI!" Naruto was running around in circles in a training yard.

"CALM DOWN NARUTO! JUST STOP YOUR CHAKRA! RELAX!" Iruka called, trying to catch the boy, and trying not to laugh.

Naruto just yelled bloody murder as super-heated steam continued to shoot out his ass.

(END NARUTO'S FLASHBACK)

"...I'd... rather not talk about it." Naruto stated with a blank face, and Kyaena shuddered with the horror of that memory. She HAD tried to warn him about using the water element with her inside him, but he just HAD to try anyway.

Kakashi blinked a few times at his student's unusually robotic response, and wondered if there was a story behind it. It was something else he would want to ask Iruka when he got back to the village.

'And I need to make a list of all this. Crap.' Kakashi thought as he tried to keep all his 'errands' he needed to do back in the village straight in his head. "Alright... Err... I guess."

The pair walked back to the others. They saw that Sasuke had been working fervently, with already more than a dozen close-together slashes on his tree. Sakura was in the process of running up her tree again, looking a little winded.

'I knew it... Her chakra levels have to be really small if she's tiring already.' Naruto sighed.

"Did you really expect more from that pitiful excuse of a female?" Kyaena growled as her ears twitched unhappily.

The pair walked up as Kakashi got the attention of the others.

"Alright you two, stop for a moment." He waited until all three genin were in front of him. "I just checked, and am pleased to say that Naruto is not only familiar with this exercise, but the one that would come after it as well. So he's going to be helping the two of you." Kakashi noted Sakura's only half-surprised look, but continued before Sasuke's glare turned troublesome. "But he'll only be helping direct the training. As I said before, while I'm gone, Sakura will be in command. And in fact, I need to give you a few instructions, Sakura. You two, just behave for a minute, ok?" Kakashi nearly pleaded as he led the confused kunoichi away.

While Kakashi was talking to the pink/red girl, Sasuke was trying to glare a hole through the blonde.

"I suppose that Kyaena taught you how to do this tree-climbing as well?" Sasuke commented.

"That's Kyaena-dono to you, peasant." Naruto scowled, not liking that this was the first time Sasuke had ever asked, or even spoken about his dearest confidant. "And yes, she taught me. She's taught me more than anyone else ever has." He paused. "Wait a minute, what do you mean, 'as well'?"

"Kakashi-sensei was telling us how that woman of yours has been giving you extra training when you're not with the team." Sasuke was trying to fight his anger how someone he had once thought so worthless was turning out to be much stronger than he thought. "I think she would have her time better spent on someone who actually needs to be taught, instead of some clueless nobody."

Kyaena growled viciously as her fur rippled threateningly, and Naruto straightened up as his muscles tensed.

"Sasuke, there are few things in the world that can get me REALLY angry. And people who would disrespect Kyaena-chan happen to be one of them. So be very careful when you speak about her if you ever want me to help you with ANYTHING. Got it?" Naruto hissed out menacingly.

"...Maybe I should just ask her directly when we get back to Konoha." Sasuke stated the sentence as if he were pondering an interesting idea, and that Naruto had no say in the matter.

"...You know something? I think that is something I would actually enjoy watching." Naruto smirked disdainfully at his teammate. "It'd be worth it just to see the look on your face when Kya-chan flips you off."

"I'll let you know when I want to mutala-I mean, humiliate the arrogant peon." Kyaena growled slow and maliciously.

Sasuke's glare at Naruto returned. The Uchiha didn't like it when anyone would stand in his way in his quest for power.

"And it will be even more worth it when I convince her who it is that TRULY needs to learn the powerful techniques she knows, and see your face when she leaves you to drown in your disgusting ramen all alone." Sasuke turned away, declaring that the conversation was over.

Naruto had been through a lot, but few times had he had so much anger towards anyone who wasn't a tail-hunter. The only thing standing between the Uchiha and a seriously bloodied face was the strip of metal across his forehead that was etched with the symbol of the leaf.

Fortunately, Kakashi and Sakura took that moment to come back over. Kakashi looked between the two boys, giving a sigh of disappointment. Sakura was looking very uncomfortable, and even perhaps a bit guilty.

"Alright, I believe that everyone knows what to do." Kakashi stated. "Naruto, you can go ahead and send a clone to Tazuna-san's house to keep an eye out, but remember the weight. Now, I expect to find you three still intact when I check up on you. But this mission is not worth your lives. If something truly serious comes up, you three are authorized to withdraw, and I would meet up with you again in Konoha. So, good luck!" Kakashi waved as he took off in a blur of speed.

The three genin stood silent for several moments, just looking at each other. Sakura broke the silence first.

"Well, ah, ok. So, Naruto, go ahead and make that clone..." She spoke hesitantly, not really sure of being in charge.

"Yeah yeah, fine. Shadow Clone Jutsu." Naruto just whipped his hands across themselves once, causing a poof of smoke that revealed an exact double of the stressed Uzumaki.

"Have fun." The clone chuckled as he happily trotted off to his sentry duties.

"Lucky little..." Kyaena sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Idiot." The original Naruto grumbled. He looked at his fellow genin. "Well!? What are you two waiting for!? Those trees won't climb themselves!"

"Shut it. Sakura is in charge, not you." Sasuke snapped.

"But Kakashi-sensei said that Naruto was to direct our training. We need to listen to him, as he has much more experience at this than we do." Sakura corrected cautiously.

"Basically, you, Sasuke, need to keep it up until you can stay on the tree continuously without loosing your hold." Naruto stated with a bit of resentment at having to help the arrogant boy. "And you Sakura... The main reason your chakra control is so easy at this point is because your overall chakra is considerably less than either of us. Doing the exercise constantly, until you're almost completely exhausted, will help build up you chakra reserves when you rest afterward." Naruto directed at the blinking girl. "And you both have to do it until, like Kakashi said, you can do all of it without thinking, so you can do it even in the heat of battle. That will take the longest to achieve." He shrugged.

"Why would the amount of chakra I have make a difference in how easy my control is?" Sakura asked, curious, and a little peeved at having been told she had a handicap of any sort when she had thought she was at least a little gifted.

"Think of you chakra like a water reservoir." Naruto stated, facing Sakura seriously. "Or like different magnitudes of water flow. If you have a lot of chakra, there is a lot of pressure that is trying to push out at all times. So if you only want to let a little chakra out, you have to struggle to keep the rest from flooding out at the same time." Naruto's mouth twitched a little. "Or, if you have less chakra, it's easier to control a flow that isn't as intense. The upside is that it will always be a bit easier for you to control your chakra, but the downside is that it's unlikely that you'll ever be able to develop reserves of chakra equal to those who were naturally born with more chakra." Naruto shrugged. "Sorry. But there are always two sides to such things. You'll just have to work constantly to increase your chakra levels."

"Ok. I get it." Sakura nodded slowly, not noticing that Sasuke had been listening intently as well, even if he was pretending to be looking off into the woods.

So, very tentatively, Sasuke and Sakura got back to the training. For a couple of hours, Naruto sat, propped by his backpack, writing in his own scrolls as he watched the other two work. He couldn't do Sakura's work for her, and he wasn't very inclined to help Sasuke progress faster than he was. As long as the brooding Uchiha was making progress, however slow, Naruto saw no reason to say anything.

Finally, at one point when Sakura was sprawled out at the base of her tree taking a rest and Naruto was still immersed in his writing, Sasuke was also beginning to show real signs of fatigue.

Sasuke was looking up at his tree. It was the mid-afternoon at this point, and despite that he had made progress, it wasn't nearly enough in his opinion. He looked over at his teammates. Sakura had already proved she knew how to do this exercise, but Sasuke hadn't seen Naruto climb a tree even once. Glaring at the human shaped orange, Sasuke quietly walked over to the prone Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura. You've had plenty of time to get used to this. Tell me what I need to do to get it right." Sasuke ordered as he squatted down next to the panting kunoichi.

"Can't... Tired... Ask... Naruto..." Sakura barely managed to gasp out between breaths, feebly raising one hand a couple inches to point at the blonde. Then her hand dropped again, and in a few seconds, it seemed as if she had fallen asleep.

Sasuke stood, frowning down at the girl. He had been sure that she would do whatever he told her. That's just the way she'd always been for as long as she had started chasing after him. And now that he might have use of her, she has the nerve to fall asleep?

"Hey, Duck-Butt." Naruto called. Sasuke looked over to see that Naruto hadn't even taken his eyes off his writing. "Is something wrong, or have you just given up?" The blonde questioned indifferently. "If so, leave Sakura-san alone. She at least has been working hard."

Sasuke's face twitched as he headed over towards Naruto, never seeing Sakura's eye crack open a sliver to watch.

"I'm getting sick of your arrogance, loser." Sasuke hissed, stopping a few feet from the sitting blonde. "And I'm sick of your lies."

Naruto's pen stopped in mid-stroke.

"This stone-headed grub is stomping on paper floors..." Kyaena snarled, sharpening her claws against themselves.

"What lies?" Naruto asked, his voice dark and warning, but hadn't looked up yet.

"You keep acting like you know so much, like you're so far ahead of us, but you're just a loudmouth nobody who whines and complains to get attention." Sasuke hissed. "You were a total coward in you're first real fight, then tried to act all tough when that Zabuza showed up-"

"And I beat the crap out of him." Naruto interrupted as he resumed writing.

"Liar!" Sasuke snapped. "You couldn't have beaten a jounin! Kakashi-sensei must have saved your ass when you screwed up a jutsu that you tried to-"

"Look, I don't care what you think." Naruto had put away his scroll in a blur as he shot to his feet to stare down the Uchiha. "I don't care what you think, and I don't care what you believe. The truth is I did what I thought was best for the team, and the mission. Keeping you and Sakura and Tazuna safe."

"I don't need your help! I can take care of myself!" Sasuke hissed.

"Oh really?" Naruto raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "And how many jounin have you fought in your life? And no, fighting Kakashi in the bell test doesn't count." He stared at the flustered Uchiha.

"...If you can take down a jounin with those jutsu you CLAIM to have learned, I'm sure I could do even more with them. Show them to me." Sasuke demanded, trying to ignore the question.

"Show them...?" Naruto blinked. "Sasuke, if I beat a jounin with them, they would kill you." He stated with little enthusiasm.

Sasuke smirked.

"Until I see these 'jutsu' of yours, I won't believe you really have them, liar." Sasuke crossed his arms as he stared back with self-developed satisfaction. "And even if I haven't fought a jounin yet, I still took down two chunin at the same time, which is more than you could ever do." He turned around to head back to his tree.

"You just don't understand. You would never have had a chance against Zabuza. Not the way you are now." Naruto called to the Uchiha.

"Stop bothering me. I have real ninja work to do." Sasuke responded, not even looking back.

"Since when have any Uchiha ever known about real work?" Kyaena growled, sick of even looking at the emo. Was it really so much to ask for Arceus to put the Duck-Butt out of her misery?

Naruto glared at the back of his dark comrade for a few moments before snorting and turning to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked, noting Naruto's movement.

"To get some water. Is that ok with you, or do you have to come see it to believe it?" Naruto shot back, not stopping.

Sasuke just huffed as Naruto disappeared through the bushes. After a second, he noticed that Naruto had left his backpack behind. Sasuke glanced at the direction Naruto had gone, then to the backpack, then to the 'sleeping' Sakura, then the backpack again. Sasuke stared to silently move towards the pack...

Vicious crashes caught Sasuke's attention, and he was barely able to duck as Naruto came flying out of the underbrush over his head, slamming into a tree so hard that the wood cracked and splintered before crumpling to the ground, clearly unconscious.

"NARUTO!" Sakura was up in a flash, as she rushed over to her fallen teammate with Sasuke right behind. With great difficultly, they rolled him over to his side.

Naruto had a large gash from his shoulder halfway across his chest. His face was already bruising as blood trickled from his nose and cut lip.

The sound of ripping wood and leaves made the two genin look over to where Naruto had come from... and their hearts nearly froze in their chests.

A tall figure pushed out of the bushes. Wrapped in so many half-bloodied bandages that looked like a Mummy movie gone wrong, it still didn't hide the recognizable shirtless sleeves, or the menacing eyes, or the mist Hitai-ate around his head.

"You wretched brats!" Zabuza snarled. "I've finally found you!"

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END OF CHAPTER

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Author's Notes:

This chapter is late because I had, to be blunt, a very UNhappy new year. My family member has terminal cancer, my car insurance got messed up, and I lost my job. So the next chapter is on hold until I find a new source of income. But, if people point out errors in this chapter, I will at least work to correct them. Also, I've tried to correct grammar and spelling in previous chapters.

I might have to change a scene or two. I tried to make Kakashi mad at Naruto, and Naruto mad at Kakashi, and have Sakura and Sasuke caught in the middle. But I'm not sure if I made Kakashi mad enough. Keep in mind though, he can't really do that much to Naruto at the moment. Most of the actual punishing/discipline and all that will have to wait till the mission is over.

I hope people don't get upset over the Inari thing. Keep in mind, even Kyaena is worried over Naruto's behavior in that matter. And I have my reasons.

So everyone, how was the Hellgate Firestorm Jutsu? Too much? Not enough? Keep in mind it's not complete yet. I would really like feedback on this. It'll be important for later on.

I believe I gave a fairly reasonable explanation as to how Naruto learned so many jutsu in only three months. And I hope you all enjoyed the slight 'difficulty' Naruto has with water jutsu. And no, you didn't miss the earth jutsu Naruto knows, I haven't revealed it yet. But it's just a simple D-rank jutsu, nothing major. Earth jutsu are also going to be difficult for Naruto, but not as much as water. Explanations on how Naruto has been learning these jutsu will be coming soon, but remember, Kyaena is learning these things as Naruto does, and she can use her experience to help him learn, other than the water thing, that is. (And no, no one is allowed to call Naruto the Master Ass Blaster. I SAID NO!)

I can't figure out how much weight Naruto is wearing. I don't feel like making it realistic, 'cause there's no fun in it, but I'm not sure how much would be allowed by Fandom Rules. But if you look at the hints I give, and you can suggest a range, I won't object. I think it will be nice to know, especially when I eventually get to Naruto's encounters with Lee and Gai.

Nobody had better start thinking that Kyaena is a coward. She's going to be jumpy as long as Naruto is near the ocean. You can't overcome a life-long phobia in just a few days. As long as she's on solid ground, she's able to focus more.

A small favor to ask everyone: Be sure to check my profile from time to time to see the Naruto story ideas I put there. If you want to write one, go ahead, just let me know. If you know of a story already out there that more or less matches an idea I have written down, please let me know. Thank you.

To the next batch of reviews:

Sociopathic-Antichrist: Sorry, Kakashi 'bonking' Sasuke and Sakura will only happen in other people's fics, not mine. I don't know who Zolf J. Kimberly is. If a well made metal sword would shatter instead of bend, it wouldn't last long in the Naruto world, or at least that's how I see it, with all the things Zabuza has been cutting through with that sword in his life. And the Kakashi in the water prison was Naruto's clone, as this chapter should have clarified. I didn't think Haku showed up early? Or maybe so, as this chapter detailed in the scene with the two of them. But what I have planned next should be interesting, I hope. (crosses fingers)

uberjjk: Kakashi didn't exactly get involved with Sasuke's life, but the jounin did keep watch over the Uchiha. No, Kakashi was never assigned to protect Naruto. That's what Tetsuko is for, remember?

Keigai O Yain: For Naruto's attitude towards Zabuza for being a traitor to his own village, Naruto's priority was to stall Zazy first, THEN kill him. And if you think about it, Naruto's more likely to react more strongly to a leaf traitor, since Konoha is his village. I think that, though he will always feel strongly about traitors, others, that is people from other villages, won't provoke as strong a reaction. It's just the way the human mind works. I think. (shrugs)

InsaneScriptist: Zabuza came, he saw, he got blow'ed up. Yep. Not enough explosives indeed. But it's not the bomb, it's the BANG that counts. Very nice.

Phblood: The Naruto/Kakashi trust thing is going to be hard to do, because Naruto doesn't want to talk about it. All through the Wave Arc, Kakashi is going to be struggling to understand. He might figure it out, or it might have to wait until he gets back to Konoha. I'm working on it. But the clues are there. Just keep re-reading and thinking. (winks)

Juopunumies: Trust me, Naruto isn't a doormat, nor will he ever be one. His attitude is not what you think. It's more complicated. I hope you keep reading.

Silent Blade: Zabuza is not 'weak' per se, but he might be a bit out of practice. He's a mercenary now, remember? If his potential clients don't have him doing much against other ninja, just other criminals or untrained people, I think he might have been loosing the 'edge'. Also, yes Naruto is strong in this story, but he also has more experience, and Kyaena's help in fights as well, both in power, healing, and strategizing. Zabuza also thought he was fighting Kakashi, and probably was thrown by not having the kind of fight he might have expected from the legendary Copy Ninja.

Bucks-sw4: I... don't know what to say. Sorry that my version of the Naruto universe isn't really to your liking. I try to give reasons for everything, but I can't cover every detail. I can only hope that you'll keep reading and that the story will grow on you. (cries)

Jiran: For the Konohamaru rivalry thing, just because it's lop-sided at the moment doesn't make it any less legitimate. And just because Sasuke would make a better opponent, doesn't mean that Naruto has any interest in dealing with him. Level doesn't mean anything. It's the mind that matters. And I don't think Sasuke ever sees anyone as a rival, only as an obstacle to pass by. Naruto and Konohamaru AGREE to be rivals. Naruto and Sasuke never made any kind of acknowledgement of each other beyond their wish to beat each other bloody. That's not rivalry. That's just festering violence. Naruto could have killed Sasuke at any time, but lets Sasuke keep thinking that he has a chance. Seems to me that Naruto is 'humoring' Sasuke.

Kabutodude: Glad you kept with it! I'm hoping that the story will improve over time, but I have to be careful, I try to notice and deal with details to keep it involving, but if I get too carried away with detail and little hints, I may wind up confusing myself. That's why reviews are useful! And you're one more reader to help with this! Thanks!

NOTICE TO ALL:

For the kunoichi identity poll, there won't be more hints until team 7 gets back to Konoha after the wave arc.

Thank you all for your time, attention, reviews... yatta-yatta and all that! But then again, I'm sure you all know my gratitude to your time already, but I'll keep saying it anyway!

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This chapter edited:

5-21-2013