Servant and Master, A Naruto FanFic

Disclaimer: I will never own Naruto. T_T


Chapter 9

Kakashi opened his eye. A woman with dark blue hair walked in. "Waking up are you, huh? Are you alright?"

"I've been better. It'll be a week before I can move normally," he grunted.

"See. It's better if you don't move so just lay down."

"Right."

The genin came into the room, followed by Tazuna. "Good morning Starshine, glad to see you're finally awake," Naruto laughed.

Sakura rolled her eyes and sat next to Kakashi. "Listen sensei, your sharingan is amazing and everything, but if it puts that much strain on you, maybe it's not worth it."

"Sorry."

"Well, you did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins so we'll be safe for awhile."

"Right, but you know that boy with the mask. What about him?"

"He's from the elite tracking unit of the village hidden in the mist. Those masks are only worn by the most elite shinobi," Kakashi paused.

"Are you okay? Sensei?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. As I was saying, tracker ninja deal with the body immediately, on the spot, so there is no room for error."

"Is that really important?" Sakura asked.

"Think about it. Do you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?"

"We don't know. I mean, I guess he took the body somewhere."

"Exactly, but why? He should have worked on Zabuza right there. As quickly as possible. Think of the weapons he used for the take down."

"Throwing needles, no way," Sasuke said.

"Exactly. None of it adds up."

"What are you all yammering about? You demolished that assassin."

"Here's the truth, Zabuza's still alive."

"But didn't you say his heart stopped," Naruto questioned.

"His heart did stop, but that was just a temporary state to simulate death. The weapons that tracker used are called senbon. They can pierce deeply, but rarely kill unless they hit in a vital organ, not in the neck. They're modified for needles used for medical treatments like acupuncture. Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body. Causing the heart to stop temporarily while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them. First, he carried the body away even though it is much heavier than he is. Second, he used senbon which have a precise effect, but are rarely fatal. From these two factors we can conclude that the tracker wasn't trying to destroy Zabuza, he was trying to save him."

"Come on. You're over thinking this aren't you?"

"Encountering suspicion, the ninja prepares quickly, hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying."

"How are we going to prepare when you can barely move?"

Kakashi laughed. "I can still train you."

"A little last minute training won't-"

"Alright! Let's get started," Naruto cheered.

"Good." He smiled.

"Nothing's good!"

The group turned around to see a kid with green overalls and a striped hat.

"Ah! Inari, where've ya been?"

"Welcome back grandpa," he exclaimed as he gave the old man a hug.

"Inari, that was very rude," his mother scolded.

"It's okay. I'm rude to them too."

Inari studied the genin, then turned to his mother. "Mom, don't you see? These people are going to die. Gato and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out."

"Listen kid, this cat or whatever is no match for a real hero like me."

"Ha. There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas."

"What did you say?"

Sakura held Naruto back. "Calm down, Naruto-chan."

"If you want to stay alive, you should just go back to where you came from."

"Inari, wait. Where are you going?"

"To look out at the ocean. I wanna be alone."

"Sorry about that."

"Naruto stomped up the stairs. "That little brat. I'm gonna put him in his place." She heard some sniffles in a room and peeked in. Inari was sitting on a desk looking out a window at the ocean while crying. He was muttering something about his dad.

*~Later that day~*

"Alright. Training starts now. First, begin with a review of chakra. A ninja's basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential."

"We know that," Sasuke said dully.

"He's right. A long time ago we learned about chakra. Physical and spiritual energy, mix, hand signs, jutsu. I think that about sums it up."

"Close enough," Kakashi sighed. "But you have not mastered the power of chakra, you barely scratched the surface. You have to combine physical and spiritual energy within yourself, but how do you do that? Each jutsu requires different types of chakra in different proportions. You must combine them exactly right. Even if you produce a lot of chakra unless you can balance and control it, it's worthless. The jutsu won't work at all or it'll just be a joke. You waste so much energy that way, then you're out of chakra and you can't fight at all. You're just a target."

"How exactly do we change that?"

"train so hard that controlling your chakra becomes second nature. To achieve this goal you must be willing to put your life on the line."

"What do we have to do?"

"Climb a tree," Kakashi answered simply.

"Climb a tree," the genin shouted.

"That's right, but there's just one rule. No hands."

"What? You're kidding."

"Am I? Let's see." Kakashi focused his chakra and walked up a tree. "You get the idea," he said when he was upside down on a branch. "Focus the chakra toward the soles of your feet and use it to connect to the tree. This is one way to apply the power of chakra."

"That's awesome!"

"Wait a minute! That's a nice trick and all, but how does that help us beat Zabuza?"

"It's the only way to fight him, Sakura. That's the entire goal of this training. First you'll learn to draw a precise amount of chakra to a precise point on your body. This is difficult even for advanced ninja. This type of climbing requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy and the bottoms of the feet are the most difficult points to focus chakra. Are you getting the picture? If you can master this, you'll be able to master any jutsu. Well, theoretically. The second point is to maintain your chakra levels. When a ninja is focused in battle it's even harder to control and maintain his chakra levels, a deadly mistake. To avoid this, maintaining chakra must be second nature, effortless. I can talk about this all day, but that won't advance your skills, will it? You need to apply the power of chakra through training." Kakashi through each of his students a kunai. "Use the kunai to mark the tree at the highest point you can climb without using your hands. Then try to get past that mark next time and the next. At first you'll need to run at a tree so your momentum will take you as high as possible, until you get used to it. Ready?"

Naruto picked up her kunai. "I'm always ready. This is gonna be no sweat all the way."

All three genin focused their chakra. They ran at the trees in front of them and began to climb. Naruto fell right off the bat. Sasuke got pretty far up the tree, but then made a mark after his foot crushed part of the tree.

"Hey, this is fun," Sakura said. She was sitting on a high branch up in the tree.

"Well, looks like Sakura has the best chakra control."

"Way to go Sakura-chan," Naruto shouted. She turned to Sasuke. "Jealous are you?" She asked mockingly.

"Whatever."

The genin continued to climb trees. Sakura was resting under her tree. Naruto walked up to Sakura and crouched down. "Hey, you're good at this. How about giving me some advice? Please?"


A/N: That'll end this chapter. The story will get better so keep reading and please review!