Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
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With a groan, Sakura opened her eyes. The roof of a tent looked back, glowing red in what had to be either the setting or the rising sun. Her entire body felt numb, and every nerve was tingling. Why was she laying on the ground?

The last thing she remembered was walking next to their client. This white-cloaked figure had shown up, then more. There had been a purple cloud, and high earth-walls, and then...

She tried to shoot up, but she was too weak. She whimpered, knowing that her innocence was gone. She wanted to cry. A hand touched her shoulder, and Kakashi-sensei's voice rang in her ears.

"Calm down Sakura. Everything is fine. Lie down and go back to sleep if you can, you're out of the woods, but you're still not well yet."

She looked at him, tears in her eyes. "Where are..."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "We are currently around five miles from where we were attacked, on a clearing roughly a hundred feet or so off the road. The Iwa-nin are gone, most are dead. Nanashi scooped up the girl and left, after donating us the antidote to the poisonous mist. Naruto and Sasuke are outside, keeping an eye on our surroundings. See? No reason to worry."

Sakura now openly cried. "Sensei, I...I-I'm..."

Now Kakashi became more serious. "Your innocence is still intact, if that's what you're worried about. The man who wanted to rape you was killed before he could actually go through with his plan."

She wanted to hug him. "Thank you sensei, I don't know what I would have..."

Kakashi raised a hand. He knew what she would have done. It would have ended either in eventual suicide or in a strong, but very bitter kunoichi, Kakashi had seen both things happen plenty of times. "I'm not the one you should thank. It was Naruto who saved you."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, the very thought of the blond-haired brat she disliked out of envy for his close relationship with Sasuke saving her life and modesty almost beyond her comprehension.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes. And now you should sleep, we have a difficult day ahead of us tomorrow."

She nodded and closed her eyes. She had a lot to think about.

-0-

Kakashi left the tent, to find Naruto sitting on a large rock towering above their tent, providing at least some cover, as the tent's color could be adjusted with a bit of chakra. Nothing fancy, but it could fit itself into a jungle, desert or mountainous setting, the last one currently being the activated one.

"How is she?" Naruto asked without opening his eyes. He was using his wind-radar to track even the smallest abnormality in the currents, whether those be an attacker or a flying senbon, and it was taking a lot of concentration. Sasuke was leaning on the rock, scanning the foliage Naruto's wind could not yet scan.

"She'll be fine." Kakashi answered. "She'll probably be up well before dusk. The only question is, what will we do then?" He looked at their client, who was sitting a bit to the side, close enough to protect in an emergency, but far enough to not intrude into the shinobi's privacy.

They had found out from the two ex-Kiri-nin the Iwa-nin had left behind that the millionaire Gatou was after his life, and logically that he had lied about the mission. He had explained why he had done it, as in the entire country of Nami, not counting Gatou's residence, one would not find enough money for a B-rank. Originally he had intended to coax the shinobi to assist by calling out to their humanity and kindness, but even he knew that that was a dumb idea, with one of them wrestling death just a few feet away, none of them were likely to show great generosity and understanding to his plight. So he had done the only thing he could, talking and asking them to help him.

To everyone's surprise, it was Naruto who broke the silence. "Personally I don't mind continuing this mission, and I doubt Kakashi or Sasuke think too differently. However, for Sakura, this was her first encounter with the real world outside of the safe walls she spent her life in. the final decision should lie with her, as she is the one who will be the most affected by this decision."

The other two looked at each other, then they nodded. Kakashi sighed. "Well, nothing we can do now. Naruto, I think you've earned yourself a break. I'll take the first watch, Sasuke second, and you'll watch until morning."

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, this time to welcome the warm slumber, and the lessons with the Guardians in his head. Nowadays, it was mainly sparring, they pointing out what he did wrong, until they deemed him fit to learn something new. Still, it was fun.

-0-

Naruto's watch had begun a while ago, and the sun was sending indications that it intended to rise soon, when a pink-haired girl climbed the rock and sat next to him. "Feeling better?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "Thanks to you, I've heard."

Naruto shrugged. "You are my teammate. I'm not going to abandon my comrades. Aside from that, I hate rapists more than anything else in this world."

Sakura blinked. That was a opinion more common with girls. "Is there a reason for that?"

Naruto looked at her, and she shuddered. "It's not really any of your business, but since you're my teammate, I'll humor you. Do you know what I did the first time I took a human life?"

He obviously wasn't expecting an answer, but Sakura had to ask. "So today was not your first kill?"

Naruto shook his head. "You and maybe the old man are the only ones in this merry group who don't have another man's blood on their hands. I made my first kill not long after I befriended Sasuke. Bandits. I had gone to find some, as your first kill should always be something with as little risk as possible. Trust me, you may freeze up, and afterwards you hurl your guts out. Happened to me, happened to Sasuke. Anyways, I came across this camp with five bandits, and I saw them waiting while one of them raped a woman. She couldn't have been older than sixteen. She bit the one who raped her, and he grabbed a club and bashed her skull in. Her head was torn off her body, and another bandit was getting ready to desecrate her corpse. I killed every single one and buried the girl beneath a tree. It was all I could do for her. I still blame myself for not attacking right away and maybe saving her life." A lone tear ran down his cheek, and he quickly brushed it away.

Sakura didn't know what to say. She never would have dreamed that Naruto and Sasuke had actually already had some experience in the darker sides of the shinobi-business. It was one thing to say that you would kill someone, and it could sound really cool, but to actually pull it through was another matter entirely. She gulped.

Naruto gave her another look of quiet contemplation. "Sakura, now you have had your first experience as a shinobi, and more importantly, as a untrained kunoichi. This time I managed to save you in time, while the others were still busy fighting. Next time, I may not be so fast. People like that man are no rarity, nor are they an exception. Most bandits and many ninja think like that man thought, and have no problem capturing girls like you to satisfy their needs. You have a choice now Sakura. You can return to the safe life you knew, or you enter our world. Either way, things will change for you. If you choose safety, then I will formally request that your license be revoked, as you are obviously not ready for our world. However, if you decide to continue, you will lose a different innocence, and things will never be the same as they once were. You will be pulled into a darker world, even though we will try to help you the best we can. We will train you so that you can survive in this cruel world, as currently you can't. The training will be harsh and at some points brutal, and you will curse all our names many times. However, you will be strong. So Sakura, will you choose the easy way leading to safety, or the hard way leading through many hardships to strength?"

Sakura looked at Naruto. He was normally not one for speeches, but she had to admit, this one was captivating. She carefully weighed her options, maybe for the first time clearly understanding what she had gotten herself into. Then she looked at Naruto. "I will not run. I will not feel helpless like before. Never again."

Naruto smiled, and Sakura suddenly noticed that Sasuke and Kakashi were there as well, one apparently reading in an orange book, although he was giving her his eye-smile, the other simply leaning on the rock, giving her a short nod. Naruto extended his hand. "Welcome to the world of shadows, of hardship, of cruelty. Welcome to the world of blood and death, where nothing is as it may seem. Welcome to our world."

-0-

Now, as they headed towards Nami, Naruto seriously started making plans for Sakura. She needed training, badly, but for almost everything that was really efficient, she needed more chakra. And to get more chakra, she needed training. A vicious cycle! Then he remembered something Kyuubi had told him about his chakra. It wouldn't be easy, scratch that, it would be, but it really wouldn't be pleasant. For Sakura. Oh well, some sacrifices must be made. She'd thank him later. After she was done cursing him. Anyways, he should wait until they were in a more secure location.

Sasuke suddenly threw a kunai, and five eyes narrowed at the small chakra-spike, before darting around for the attack that would soon follow. Sakura remained oblivious to the spike, but with her new mindset, focusing on the mission and her comrades' body-language more than Sasuke's face, she noticed that all three were tensing,waiting for something. She had almost lost her virginity once, that would never happen again. So she too focused on her surroundings, missing the small smile on her comrades' faces when they saw what she did. They all heard the sound of something large cutting through the air and jumped to the floor, Kakashi being closed pulling Tazuna down with him.

All except Naruto. He remained, looking at the giant blade flying at him curiously, wondering why anyone would wield something so large, and what on earth possessed him to throw it.

"Naruto, GET DOWN!" Sasuke called, as the blade got closer and closer.

Naruto just smirked. Just as the blade almost reached him, he bent his body backwards like someone plying limbo, letting it sail harmlessly above him, slamming into a tree. A second later, a figure was standing on the hilt.

Unknowingly, with just that action, the man had told Naruto a lot about him. The man was either arrogant or hardly armed. If Naruto were to throw such a blade in an obvious and flashy way, he would have punched out some lights while everybody was watching the big spinning thing. That he hadn't even thrown some kunai or shuriken meant that he was either confident that he could handle them all without such tricks, or that he did not have any. That big blade was probably his only weapon. Oh well, sucks to be him. Naruto grinned and pointed at the blade. "And boom."

The telltale hiss of multiple exploding-tags filled the air. Zabuza looked at his blade in shock. Although he couldn't see it, the underside of it was plastered in tags, and they were only an instant away from going off. Before he could react...

BOOOM

The smoke blocked their view for a few seconds. When it lifted, the tree had been obliterated and a very irate Zabuza was standing on the floor, holding the to Naruto's disappointment still intact blade in his hands, although the right one was already starting to turn into interesting colors.

Naruto spat out. "Che, didn't work."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, not taking his eyes off of Zabuza. As a wise man once said, the only thing more dangerous than a tiger is a injured tiger.

"I've spent days tuning those tags! Instead of giving 50% of the blast to one side of the tag and 50% on the inside, these sent a solid 90% inwards. That sword was supposed to shatter, killing the guy in the shrapnel. Instead, it held, and only slammed into him. The shoulder and arm aren't even broken! I feel cheated."

Kakashi had to snort at Naruto's pout. "That is Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of Mist. I really doubt an A-rank nin would be taken out so easily."

Naruto dramatically rolled his eyes. "Another one? I swear, there has to be a nest. This is the second A-rank in roughly 24 hours!"

Zabauza was, not that he'd ever admit it, intrigued. This kid was way too relaxed, as was the black-haired one. The only ones seeming adequately scared were the old man and the pinkette. Why would anyone want pink hair? Especially in this business? He would have written the brats off as simply being overconfident, were it not for the way they carried themselves. Even if they seemed relaxed, they were ready to move in an instant. The fact that the blond one had noted that he tuned exploding-tags was also a good indication that these weren't just your average snot-nosed brats.

They were pulling off a show, trying to provoke him to drop his guard, whether in cockiness or anger, and would mercilessly pounce given half a chance.

However, their sensei seemed determined to not give them that chance. "You two stay back, I'll take care of this one." He pulled up his headband, revealing the Sharingan in all it's glory.

Zabuza grinned. This would be fun. "The Copy-Ninja himself. Should I be flattered?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Do what you want, but you will not get the bridge-builder. I will take you on myself."

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine. I call the small-fry hiding in the bushes." He pointed his thumb behind them.

Naruto stared at him. "No fair!" Just as he finished speaking, two oddly familiar shinobi wearing gas-masks and clawed gauntlets broke out of the foliage. Naruto groaned. "Remind me that the next time we decide to tie some shinobi up with their own chain, bladed or not, I should break their limbs, just to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen."

Sasuke smirked as he charged the two chunin, one of his daggers drawn.

Naruto puffed his cheeks in annoyance. "Sakura, watch over our client, I'll cover you."

Sakura pulled a kunai, but she seemed affected by the killing intent that was pressing down on the entire area. Naruto, so used to much worse, had hardly noticed it. Sakura gulped. "Do we have a chance?"

Naruto smiled. "Of course. Zabuza may be an A-rank, but so is Kakashi-sensei, and Zabuza will be heavily favoring his left arm, which gives sensei an edge, unless he does something stupid, like dropping his... I don't believe this."

-0-

Kakashi had dropped his guard, chasing Zabuza, who indeed seemed to be in some pain, out onto the lake when said man made a break for Tazuna and Sakura. However, once he had stepped onto the lake, Zabuza had used the Kirigakure no Jutsu, followed by sending a few Mizu Bunshins as a feint, while sneaking behind the Sharingan-user and trapping him in a Suirou no Jutsu.

Zabuza grinned. "Looks like this battle is over. Without your sensei, you don't stand a chance."

Naruto sighed. As useful as it was, he hated being underestimated. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch. The way I see it, you're stuck over there, and we're here. I'd call this a stalemate, with the odds about to tip in my favor, as Sasuke will soon be done playing with your goons, and we can surely force you to stop the jutsu, since all you have to defend yourself is your bad arm."

Zabuza looked and noticed that he had indeed, out of habit, put his left arm in the prison. As he was right-handed, this was usually a good choice. Usually. However, that blasted straw-head of a brat had got him good with those tags. Since when were those handed out to freshlings? "You fucking brat seem to misinterpret the situation. Your friend will die soon, and I'll kill you all then. Do you think this is some kind of game? The hero comes and saves the day? This is a harsh world you brat." His eyes gained a dreamy expression. "When I was your age, my hands were soaked in the blood of others. It was so much fun, too."

Naruto shrugged dismissively. "Here our opinions differ. It's not fun for me."

Zabuza looked into Naruto's eyes, and indeed found that certain gleam that signified the loss of innocence, the gleam of someone who had killed, more than once. "Well well, looks like something halfway decent crawled out of Konoha. It's been a while since that happened. Still boy, you are out of your league. Leave the old man, and I will spare your life."

Naruto returned to playful-mode. "I'd love to, but that would leave an ugly stain on my perfect record, so no." He pulled out a fuuma shuriken, gave it a short flick so it folded out to full size, charged it with Lightning-chakra, and threw it.

Zabuza saw the small lightnings shooting up here and there, and immediately knew that catching it was a bad idea. So he did the obvious thing, he jumped over it. "Too easy! Did I overestimate you?"

Naruto grinned. "I was just asking myself that same question. Strike one."

Zabuza's head snapped to his left, looking over his shoulder in disbelief as the blade he had just dodged had stopped moving forward, albeit still spinning like a buzz-saw, before tilting from a horizontal to a vertical position and shooting towards him. While twisting, one blade made contact with the surface of the lake, and the shuriken immediately discharged itself, sending a shock that paralyzed Zabuza for a moment.

"Strike two." Naruto commented, still grinning. "And there comes the third strike."

Zabuza cursed the short moment the electrical shock had cost him, as the spinning blade of death or at lest crippling was making a beeline towards his arm, just at the elbow. With the speed it was going, Zabuza didn't have a shred of doubt it would take his arm. How the hell did the fucking brat do that? It wasn't magnetism, otherwise at least one of the few metal objects Zabuza had on him would have reacted, so what was it? Well, he'd ponder that later, right now he had to save his hand.

He pulled it out of the watery orb just in time, the spinning blade missing his fingertips by a hair's width. Just as he was about to send something nasty the boy's way, he had to dodge a fist. Kakashi, now free as a bird, was looking at him. "Strike three. Out."

Zabuza chuckled. "Maybe. But sure as hell not for for me."

Naruto had stopped the blade again, the spinning shuriken inches from his nose. Then the rotation stopped, and Naruto's eyes widened. "Son of a bitch!" He called out before a exploding-tag attached to the shuriken went off right in his face.

Zabuza couldn't help but grin, even though he doubted that the brat would be taken out that easily. People had survived worse, and since the tag had been in the boy's face, the shrapnel of the shuriken would be blown away from him. Pity. The pained groan a second later proved him right.

"NARUTO! ARE YOU OKAY?" Kakashi was worried. Talent or no talent, toughness or no toughness, there were things that just plainly fucked you up, and a exploding-tag to one's face was certainly amongst those.

"A fucking tag blew up three inches from my face. DO YOU THINK I'M OKAY?" came the answer. The smoke cleared, and a very peeved Naruto was seen leaning onto a tree. His clothes were shredded, and the right side of his face seemed to consist of nothing but burns. He hissed. "I'm gonna feel that till tomorrow." He noticed Sakura looked terribly pale, but she held her ground, watching the client.

Naruto could hear the Kyuubi laughing in his head, taking it's merry time to heal his face.

"Well well, you fell victim to your own idea? How pathetic is that?" Kyuubi asked.

'Shut up, and crank up the healing.' Naruto barked. His face hurt like a bitch.

Madara was also more amused than worried. "Naruto, once this is over, we will go over this battle and see what you could have done different to not end up like you did."

Naruto groaned. He knew tactics were important, but that didn't mean he had to like every little mistake he made being pointed out. To Naruto's endless embarrassment, Madara, who was the one who gave most of those lessons, had somehow allowed everyone in Naruto's head to view his first kill from a third-person-perspective, and after it was done, happily proclaiming that what they all had just seen was a classic example of how to get yourself killed in combat.

'Hai.' He muttered unhappily, groaning at the pain his face gave him at minimal movement, which unfortunately included the movement of his healing flesh.

Still, he swallowed the pain as he watched his sensei and Zabuza pepper each other with different suitons, although Kakashi was steadily gaining the upper-hand, as he could form his handsigns faster than Zabuza. Also, even though Naruto couldn't understand the words that were spoken, his ears still ringing from the explosion, nor did the masks both wore allow him to read lips, he could tell that Kakashi was using mental warfare on his enemy. And because Naruto had been too cocky to properly check his weapons after they returned from the combat-zone, he got nailed by a trick he himself had used only minutes earlier, so he could not even get up and learn from this battle, as he was still deaf.

Still, he whistled in appreciation when Kakashi nailed Zabuza with a spinning vortex of water, which slammed him against a tree, a few kunai that Kakashi had hidden in the water now piercing the missing-nin's flesh.

Naruto had regained his hearing, and most of his hair and skin, just in time to see two senbon piercing Zabuza's neck with pinpoint accuracy. He raised a brow as a new figure wearing a mask quite similar to Nanashi appeared, although this one had a red swirl and a different symbol, marking the wearer as a hunter from Kiri.

"Thank you." The hunter said, politely bowing. "I have been waiting for a long time for an opening to kill Zabuza."

Kakashi looked at him. "You are a hunter from Kiri?"

The figure nodded. "That is correct. I understand you do not trust me, so feel free to check his condition. He is dead. Although I request you do not damage the specimen, or I may be forced to assume you are trying to get samples. Not to be disrespectful, but you would not be the first one hailing from Konoha who does that."

Kakashi nodded. Orochimaru had left a bad impression on the entire continent, so many were weary of allowing Konoha-nin close to bloodline-users or corpses holding important information. He checked the pulse, first on the wrist, then on the neck to be sure, before pushing open an eyelid. "He's dead." He finally said, stepping back from the corpse.

The hunter bowed again, before reappearing next to the corpse, intending to pick it up, when Naruto spoke.

"I also don't mean to be disrespectful, but you seem rather ill-equipped for a hunter. I don't see a storage-scroll, nor do you have any heavy tools with you. Allow me to help you decapitate the corpse, then you will not have to carry as much." With that, he sent a blade of wind at Zabuza's body, aiming for the neck while leaving a gash in the ground.

The hunter seemingly didn't react, but at the last second, a rectangular plate of ice appeared out of nowhere and took the hit. Both Naruto and the hunter stared in shock, albeit for different reasons.

Naruto was thinking 'No way! That was almost 70% of the power I can put in the wind, and it didn't penetrate? How hard is that thing?'

The hunter meanwhile was baffled at the gash the wind had left. 'A mixture of two elements is supposed to be superior to any single element, especially if the attacking element is not a elemental weakness of either component, yet this boy almost cut my mirror in half! Who is he?' But instead of pondering, the hunter wisely chose to retreat while he still could.

Naruto wanted to follow, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Kakashi had collapsed. Giving one final longing look at the fake hunter, obviously wishing to gut him like a fish for tricking them, he turned to his sensei. "You okay Kakashi-niisan?" He quietly asked.

Kakashi gave his eye-smile. "I'm fine. I just overused the Sharingan. Speaking of which..."

Naruto turned around, and spotted a grinning Sasuke with red eyes, a single tomoe in each. He was also dragging the unmoving bodies of the two he had attacked with him.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know if I should congratulate you on achieving the Sharingan, or be disappointed that such low-class gave you enough trouble to believe your life in jeopardy."

Sasuke shrugged. "They had a nasty trap with their chain set up, and I didn't notice until it was too late. When they sprung it, everything just slowed down and I could dodge it." He tossed the lifeless bundles to the floor. "I did what you asked me to remind you to do. Broken arms, broken legs, they're not going anywhere." He paused in thought, "Well, we could cash them in. it would be easier to send their heads in a scroll than to keep them around."

Naruto chuckled. "We'll decide later." He waved Tazuna and Sakura closer. "Right now, we have to get Kakashi-sensei away from here, and I think we could all use a breather. Tazuna, can you lead us to your house?"

The bridge-builder nodded, and quickly lead them through barely visible paths to his home.

-0-

Naruto considered their situation. They were safe for the moment, at least from outside threats. Putting down Sasuke's inflated ego from his newly gained Sharingan had been a chore, as Sasuke had dodged the first bonk on the head, making Naruto hit faster and harder on his next try. After that, he nearly lost his hearing to Sakura's screech.

Naruto was starting to have doubts if it would be a good idea to give Sakura the jutsu he had thought up with her in mind, and created when she joined their team. Granted, she would be lethal, and it would fit, but he did not quite trust her not to use it on innocent people who criticize Sasuke. He already had a defense, but it was not something he could just teach to anyone.

Kakashi was out cold, though he should be regaining consciousness sometime in the near future. Currently Sakura and her new sense of duty were watching him. Say what you want, but at least for the moment, Sakura had grown a spine, and it actually held when Sasuke was around.

Aside from his teammates, he had met the clients family. Tsunami was a pleasant woman, friendly, fairly cheery considering her situation, and all together a joy to have around, especially in the kitchen. She made one mean sushi. Her son on the other hand was a disappointment. The kid was completely emo, looking at them with a gloomy expression, muttering something about how they would all die, and then leave. The kid reminded Naruto of someone but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out who.

His musings were interrupted when Sakura entered the living-room, stating that Kakashi was awake.

-0-

Kakashi groaned, but relaxed when he saw Naruto sitting beside him. "How long have I been out?"

Naruto frowned. "Somewhere in the vicinity of fifteen hours. Sasuke's downstairs watching the client and family, and Sakura is resting. You know, she hasn't slept a single second since our encounter with Zabuza? She kept watch over you, just as she was told. Sasuke even tested her by asking her to come outside, and she actually refused."

Kakashi smiled. "Looks like she really doesn't want to be raped. Well, good for all of us, I guess. Anyways, what's the situation?"

Naruto went into business-mode. "I have secured the perimeter, my Kage Bunshin are patrolling the area. Although I find it unlikely that we'll be attacked by anything serious in the near future. Zabuza will lick his wounds before he comes back. Although his companion saved him, he had to be put into a near-death state to do so. Until he is back to full strength, it's unlikely we'll be dealing with anything worse than some riffraff bandits. If Gatou had more good shinobi, they would have attacked us after you fainted, as that would have been a golden opportunity. And if there were more men, those brothers that Sasuke trashed would not have been sent on a mission they already failed once. Although it is possible that Gatou hires more shinobi, they too would probably wait until Zabuza is back in form to further tip the odds in their favor."

A short nod signified Kakashi's agreement. "How long do you estimate it'll take until Zabuza is fully healed?"

Naruto thought about it. "At least a week until he can move again. However, his arm, although sadly not broken, was hit pretty hard, and the bruising will make it a liability in combat, since it'll be impossible to move without pain, and would be much weaker than the other one. So depending on Zabuza's medical equipment and knowledge, and frankly how fast he heals, I'd say it will take him two weeks to a month to fully heal, probably sooner than later if he gets medicine. That would also be the amount of time we have."

"How long will it take to complete the bridge?" came Kakashi's next question.

Naruto shrugged helplessly. "Tazuna said his men keep leaving, so he's grossly understaffed. He estimated that it would take between two and five months at the current rate. I offered to help out with my Kage Bunshin, but since I'm not a bridge-builder, I can only do so much. If I take over the manual labor and leave all workers with only the complicated work, Tazuna said it would take around three weeks. Still not enough. It's likely that we're attacked before then."

Kakashi nodded. "Still, we have more time than I thought possible when we began this mission. I will probably need a week or so to get back in shape as well, so maybe we can use that time to teach Sakura something."

Naruto agreed. "Perhaps I can test her affinities."

Kakashi knew what Naruto meant. He himself had tested himself, and the result had been interesting, to say the least. He had no Force-affinity on the first try, however, with his Sharingan uncovered, he suddenly had an affinity for dimension.

He didn't know it, but Madara had explained the Sharingan to Naruto. A Sharingan could be transplanted, but only if one condition was met, otherwise it would rot in the receiver's head, or if that was prevented, regularly malfunction and cause extreme pain. The condition was surprisingly simple. The Sharingan had to be willingly given. Even better, if it was, then it would, with time and patience, evolve into a Mangekyo Sharingan by itself, without any deaths of precious people involved. However, then it would only learn one technique, and it would be impossible to deactivate the Sharingan. There was always a catch.

Anyways, Kakashi agreed. "That may be a good idea. Who knows, she might surprise us. Anyways, didn't you mention that there was a Force-temple in Nami?"

Naruto nodded. "There is. The Time-temple, to be exact. I might check it out after the mission is done. But Sakura's training comes first. And Tazuna's daughter's sushi is to die for. Her brat is a pain though. He fell out of the emo-tree and hit every branch on the way down. If I only knew who he reminds me of..."

Kakashi chuckled. "Naruto, you're talking random again. Still, I think we can rest for today. Tomorrow we'll start the training."

-0-

The next day Kakashi was well enough to move with crutches. The bad part about chakra-exhaustion is, even if you would manage to get your reserves refilled immediately, the exhaustion would not vanish, since your reserves were, at one point, drained. Of course, that doesn't mean that it wouldn't help.

He looked at his students. "The first exercise will be tree-climbing. Well, Naruto and Sasuke already know this, as I've observed when they fled the library a few years ago," The boys blushed. How did Kakashi manage to spot them? "so they can explain it to Sakura. Sakura, I won't lie to you. You are the one who needs this more than anyone else here."

Sakura bit her lip, but she nodded. Naruto on the other hand raised a brow. "Why are we suddenly the instructors? Isn't that your job?"

Kakashi shrugged it off. "Didn't you want to check something with Sakura?"

Naruto's palm slammed into his forehead. "I nearly forgot! Sakura, here. Hold this between your hands like this and channel chakra through it."

Sakura blinked and looked at the odd stick wrapped in paper, then at her teammates and sensei, who all nodded reassuringly. With a nervous smile, she did as she was told.

Kakashi raised a brow. Sasuke whistled. Naruto smiled and frowned at the same time. 'Great, that temple is right on Iwa's border. That'll be fun.' Loud he said. "Well, you have both Physical- and Mental-affinities, that makes us an identical squad in that aspect. Your elemental-affinity is Earth, with weak secondary-affinities of Water and Lightning. Those aren't at a level where they can be truly exploited yet, this test shows all affinities you WILL gain in your life, period, but now we have something to work with. However, who would have thought that you of all people have a force-affinity? And such a strong one? No offense."

The last tag had torn in half, one half pointing to the heavens, one pointing straight down, before the bottom half ripped off and sank halfway into the ground. Sakura just stared. "What happened? And what Force-affinity are you talking about? I've heard about elemental-affinities, they're a chunin-level topic, but what are forces?"

Naruto sighed and explained. Sakura's eyes grew larger and larger the more he talked, before finally she gulped.

"And... I have such a force?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. you have the POTENTIAL to use one of the forces, that's different. Still, with you, we almost have a complete set. I have Time and Space, Sasuke here has Void, and now you turn out to have Gravity. All we have to do now is find the forgotten temples where long deceased monks gathered all knowledge about them, and find someone that has an affinity for Death to complete our pentagram. Jiji turned out to have one, but we can hardly ask the Hokage to join our team."

Sasuke thought he saw steam coming out of Sakura's ears as the pinkette tried to burn every word Naruto spoke into her memory, especially since Naruto had said that this knowledge was very old, practically forgotten, and one of Konoha's most important military secrets. She frowned. "But Naruto, if that knowledge is so secret, how can you just tell me? How do you even know? And why do you carry the materials to conduct a test for forces in your pocket?"

Naruto grimaced. "Because... You're looking at the one who supplied the knowledge how to make these materials, and it were also these lips who revealed the knowledge of the forces in the first place."

In his head, Minato chuckled. 'Very smooth. You told her the truth, at the same time leading her astray. You make it sound like you were the one who figured everything out, without saying it, as that just isn't true. But you may want to tell her the truth.'

'Yes, you have no right to hog all the glory, especially if it belongs to me.' Kyuubi muttered, although it sounded amused.

Hashirama also voiced his opinion. 'Perhaps you should tell her the truth. That girl is smart, even though she doesn't show it all the time. Sooner or later she will figure it out, and the longer you wait, the more trust you will destroy. And if that happens at the wrong time, it may doom everyone involved.'

Naruto sighed. It was really hard to argue with his inner voices. They were just smarter and more experienced than him. It really wasn't fair!

'Life's not fair. And we weren't born with all our knowledge, we gained it through our own experiences, some of them very unpleasant.' Madara chipped in.

Sakura looked at him. "Naruto, What's wrong? You were staring into space."

Naruto scratched his head. "Was I? Well, it can't be helped. Sakura, since I already told you one of Konoha's most important secrets, I'll tell you another one. But keep this in mind. What I'm about to tell you is an S-ranked secret, that only I and the Hokage may reveal to those we trust. If you tell anyone else about this, you will be executed on the spot. Do you understand me?"

Sakura laughed nervously and looked at Sasuke and her sensei, hoping they'd tell her Naruto was only kidding. However, both Kakashi and Sasuke looked at her with emotionless expressions, which told her that not only was it true, but they would both be willing to administer the punishment themselves if it would be necessary. She gulped. "Okay, I won't tell anyone."

Naruto looked her in the eyes. "Very well. As you know, twelve years ago Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi. Our Yondaime Hokage sacrificed his life to save the village, and he was successful. What you don't know is that killing a demon is generally a chore, and killing a bijuu is like trying fell a tree with a feather. Bijuu are immortal, in every sense of the word. The only way for a bijuu to die is when a different demon with a corresponding number of tails challenges it for its title as a bijuu, and if it wins, it is the new bijuu. No human, no matter how great, can kill a bijuu. The Yondaime however did the next-best thing. He sealed it away. However, no object can hold the Kyuubi, any animal would immediately be possessed, and no adult would survive the changes that having a demon sealed into them would cause, so the only option the Yondaime had was to seal it in an infant. That infant was me. I am the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Sakura stared, slack-jawed. One could practically hear her world shatter around her. She seemed unable to form coherent words. Then she pulled herself together. She had sworn herself that she would change, and she would, dammit! If everything she had ever believed in had to go to make that happen, then go it shall! She took a deep breath. "I see. So, Kyuubi told you about the forces?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep. He's fairly cooperative. Turns out he was only passing through and got pissed when people started attacking. Anyways, now you know. Kyuubi is teaching me some stuff that has been forgotten for centuries. Really cool, but I digress. Sasuke, I do remember that we about to explain tree-climbing, or rather tree-walking, to Sakura. If you may? I feel I said enough for the moment."

Sasuke nodded, and looked at Sakura, secretly pleased that she looked at him with the respect one gives a teacher, not that lost-puppy-look his fangirls usually gave him. That look just gave him the creeps.

-0-

While he explained everything to Sakura, Naruto was asking Kakashi about his thoughts on a raiton that he and Sasuke had developed, but not yet perfected. They discussed different possibilities, before looking up to see how Sakura was doing.

Said girl was sweating, having used chakra to walk, then run up the tree for almost twenty minutes. She knew from the somewhat downtrodden look on Sasuke's face when he exchanged glances with Naruto and Kakashi that her reserves were pathetic, and felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Naruto sighed. "Sakura, come here please." He waited until she sat before him, completely exhausted.

He looked her in the eye. "Sakura, I'll be honest with you. What you just showed was better than we expected. We honestly feared that you would fall out of the tree after ten minutes, tops. But still, you are far below the level you need to be, or bluntly should be. Now, I've consulted with both sensei and Kyuubi, I have two options for you to help get you stronger. Option one, we continue training like this, draining your chakra and letting it refill. This was what Sasuke, Kakashi, and for the most part I used to get where we are now. This method is exhausting and what is worse in our case, time-consuming, but fairly simple and straightforward. There will be a lot of exhaustion, but little pain involved and if things go well, your reserves might double, although we have to do a lot of water-walking for that to happen. Your control may improve even further if possible"

Sakura nodded. This was the standard way. You train, you get stronger. "And what is the other option?"

Naruto's expression was serious. "Kyuubi was the one who suggested this. This method has more advantages, but the drawbacks are also more extreme. To phrase it as simple as it goes, I will inject my chakra into you. Before you say anything, let me explain. Thanks to Kyuubi, my chakra is much denser than ordinary chakra. There is also more pressure in my coils. It's simple really. The pressure widens the coils to relieve it, and because there is a drop in density, my body produces more chakra. You get what I'm saying?"

Sakura nodded again. "It's a circle. Basically your body's standard chakra-concentration is a little more than normal, so the additional pressure widens the coils to relieve it. But because of that, your body is producing more chakra to get back to it's standard, causing everything to start again. But what does that have to do with me?"

Naruto smiled. "My chakra is denser than yours. If I inject it into you, it will forcibly widen your coils. Hell, one could say that it will shatter your chakra-coils and completely rebuild them, only much stronger. My estimate is that if I do this, your reserves will at least triple, and by tomorrow that would be complete. Don't misunderstand, that the increase is so high is mainly due to your low reserves. If I use this on others with more chakra like Kakashi or Sasuke, they would have a slight increase, but nothing as dramatic as yours. And before you make a decision, these are the side-effects. First of all, if I do this, your chakra-control will be shot to hell. You will have to spend at least two days to get it back to decent. The other, and more critical catch is, that essentially rebuilding your coils from scratch is not easy. There are no risks or anything, as my chakra, if voluntarily given, has healing-properties, but if I do it, you will feel pain like you never felt it before. This will be agony."

Sakura gulped. "Would it always hurt like that? I mean, if you would do it again?"

Naruto frowned as he listened to Kyuubi. "According to the fox, the first time is the worst. After that, it will get better. If I do it to Sasuke, he will likely remain conscious, and doing it to Kakashi-sensei will result in little more than some general feeling of unpleasantness. It will hurt the first few times, but it will get better over time. And in case you're wondering why I only reveal this now, I'm not fond of shortcuts. If people never work for what they gain, they will not be able to respect what they get. Again, the decision is yours to make."

Sakura thought about it, carefully weighing both options. After ten minutes, she nodded. "Do it. If doing this means that I won't just be dead weight in the future, then any pain will be worth it."

Naruto nodded. "I respect your choice Sakura. You will faint after a few moments, and I doubt you'll wake up before tomorrow. When you do, we'll start the real training, okay?"

She nodded. Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder and formed a single-handed sign. Even though he didn't know it, it was the same sign Kyuubi had used when he pumped the man who attacked Naruto full with youki. Only logical, as it was the Transfer-sign.

They both started to glow, and Sakura let out an agonized wail as she dropped like a rock, twitching, foaming at the mouth, and completely cramped up. A few seconds later, she lost consciousness.

Naruto heaved her on his shoulder. "Let's go back. I think we deserve to call it a day."

Sasuke and Kakashi nodded, before all three headed to Tazuna's house, the old man returning from a day bossing around blond clones that both worked on the bridge and protected him and his workers.

It had been a rough day.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 12 is done. I'm not dead! Nor is this story! In fact, this one just might be the longest of my stories when it's done. At least, it's the one I have the most plans for.

I considered starting Sakura's training this chapter, but I wanted to have more space for that than this chapter had without getting ridiculously large, so that will be next chapter.

And yes, the Sharingan must be willingly given, or it won't work right! In my fic, th reason Danzou can use Shisui's eye is because Shisui wanted to be avenged, giving indirect permission. However, since it was not a conscious choice, Danzou can only use Shisui's jutsu once every twenty-four hours. It will also never become a Mangekyo, just like the other ten on his arm. Those he doesn't use because they'd rot, but Danzou managed to arrange it so that he could use them for his jutsu, and only for his jutsu.

IMPORTANT NOTICE (With slight spoilers): Two things I wanted to write a few chapters ago, but forgot. First of all, Danzou's ultimate immortality-genjutsu has, in this story, officially been rechristened Izanami. I already had dibs on Izanagi, as that is the name of one of the Eternal Mangekyo's jutsus, and in this fic, the secret that would, theoretically, have been able to make Madara somewhat immortal. Also, Utakata will make an appearance in this fic, and that fairly soon. But since I decided on him and his personality before he appeared in the anime, which I've never watched anyways, he will be completely different, and Hotaru will most likely not exist in this fic.

RANT: Well, I've been told that directly replying to reviews can get my story banned, so I'll do a simple Q&A. Don't ask me why it's banned. Whoever runs this site seems to be doing a lot of pointless and downright annoying things right now. For example, the search-function was perfectly fine. You chose what source you wanted to look in by checking through the alphabet, entered the search-phrases and maybe the characters you want. Now you have to press a button that you want an advanced search, after pressing the search-button no less, which signifies that the little tab that opens when you point your mouse on the writing isn't enough. Then you have to enter whether books, movies, manga or otherwise, and then select that. Afterwards you still have to enter the search-words, and optionally the characters. What used to be done in less than ten seconds now takes half a minute, and to top things off, you can't even select if you want to look in a certain rating. Can anyone explain to me why it was necessary to alter a perfectly fine system, just to make it fancier and in fact more bothersome to use, or to speak it bluntly, crappier? Or why we authors have those lines we use to make gaps in the story to signify changes erased? WTF? What do they care if we do that? It's not like it's doing anything bad. By erasing them, whoever runs this site has made our stories more difficult to read. Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't this be called sabotaging our stories?

Anyways, here the Q&A

Q: Will Sakura actually be useful?
A: Yes, she will. It will take a bit of time and hard work, but by the time the chunin-exams roll around, she'll be pretty decent. Not in Naruto or Sasuke's league, but decent.

Q: Will Tobi exist?
A: Yes. He obviously won't be Madara, although he may use the name, but he will exist. And yes, I already have his existence planned out. There will be a reason he exists.

Q: What are the pairings?
A: I've written this often, but I hope that now that it is on a public Q&A, I won't have to say it again. I haven't decided on anything yet.

Q: What the hell is a Catevari?
A: It comes from the series 'The Invisible Man', and it basically means someone who was fed poison to the point that he is immune, but his body is flooded with the poison to a degree extreme enough that he becomes poisonous to others.

Well, I said all that I can think of right now, so

Please Review