Hey y'all! Welcome back for the next chappie for Chasms of Sixteen. I hope you all are liking how it's going so far. I think it works out well enough. It'll be interesting how this progresses further. Hehes
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy what happens this time. Please remember to favorite, follow, etc. along with leaving some nice reviews.
Chapter 13: Collapse
"Alright, team, listen up!" Kakashi commands the next day as he and the genin of Team seven are standing in the middle of a clearing in the woods not too far from Tazuna's house. "We're going to be climbing trees today."
Two of the three genin are evidently confused by this announcement although Sasuke shows it way less than Sakura does, "What do you mean sensei? We already know how to climb trees."
"Ah, yes, but do you know how to climb them with just your feet?" their teacher challenges in retort.
"I do!" Shouts out Naruto. His two teammates and one sensei turn to him.
"Well, then, show us," says Kakashi, thinking that the blonde is just bluffing in order to look cooler because he seriously doubts that he has the level of control required for the tree climbing exercise.
"Alright," agrees Naruto without complaint, seeing no harm in it.
Walking towards one of the trees, he keeps on going. To his team's amazement, he keeps going until he reaches one of the middle branches, from there proceeding to stand upside down. Seeing his teammates in this position has him have a hard time concealing a light smile. They appear so taken aback, wandering if they really think he's that low of a level, wondering if any of them know what he contains within.
"I can go all the way to the top, but that's too troublesome," admits the blonde sheepishly.
"Where have you learn that, Naruto?" Asks Kakashi warily.
"I taught myself! I had really bad chakra control, so I spent a bit of time trying to figure out ways to improve it. I stumbled upon tree walking and water walking," says Naruto as to explain it away, not wanting them to think over it too much.
Kakashi sighs, mentally. Of course, figuring that he must of had to find some way to teach himself, because of the villagers' aversion to him learning anything actually useful. Although it's indeed surprising that he's been able to not only discover tree walking, but master it.
"Well, then, how far are you on water walking?" Asks Kakashi to see what else he might have to reveal.
"I can balance on even fast moving water by now. As far as I can tell I can even fight on it as long as I don't use jutsus that require a large amount of concentration," replies Naruto after some thought about it.
"Well, continue practicing your chakra control any way you can," tells Kakashi to him before turning his attention to the other two of their group. "From what I've heard and observed your control still sucks."
Shrugging, Naruto raises a brow, yeah I know. My chakra just has the weird tendency to randomly flux…. So, it's a bit difficult. See ya!"
Jumping down from his perch, he rushes off into the forest, jumping along in the section of the trees that's more populated with branches. This turns Kakashi's attention further on Sakura and Sasuke. Both still need to undergo with the exercise while Naruto doesn't need to. Still, it requires the jounin to at least give it to those who need it.
"Well, now for you two. As soon as you master the tree climbing exercise then you can move onto water walking," Kakashi tells them simply. "Tree climbing works by channeling chakra into your feet and maintaining a steady flow. Well, I'm off!"
Sasuke wordlessly scowls at where his sensei had been standing moments before. Turning to the tree, he takes a running start to get about ten feet off before he's repelled from the tree because he put too much chakra into his feet. Looking over to Sakura, she manages to get all the way up to the top. Scowling further, Sasuke wonders if he's so weak as to have a useless girl like Sakura and the class dobe, Naruto, surpassed him so quickly. Continuing the training for a few hours, Sakura has long since gone home. Then, without warning, he hears a voice coming from his right.
"Still going, eh, teme?" Naruto asks. Sasuke scowls at the implication, "Impressive. It took me twice as long to reach that height."
The raven blinks. Of course he's far stronger than the dobe! The idiot has just managed to learn about the technique earlier is all.
"If you're wondering how Sakura is able to get it so fast, it's because she has so little chakra that it's easy for her to control. That's also why she has to go back so early," pipes up the blonde to let him know, hoping to solve all of his insecurities.
"Hmph," grunts Sasuke before saying to him. "Hey, dobe, how do you get this?'
This causes it to be Naruto's turn to blink at the fact that Sasuke is actually asking him of all people for help before grinning widely.
"You just need to stay calm. Chakra control is affected by emotions. The more emotionally worked up you are, the harder it is to control your chakra," Naruto says, parroting what Sakura has told him in the original timeline.
Of course, for him, the opposite is true. Because of his status as a jinchurriki, the more emotional he gets then the more he draws on Kurama's power, causing the more balance to be given to his chakra. When he's using primarily his chakra then it tends to react violently with the trace amounts of his beast's chakra. Somehow it always finds in all of his chakra for no good reason. The higher percentage of Kurama's power in his chakra then the easier it is for him to just prevent the chakra's reactions from affecting his jutsus. Sasuke inwardly nods, making sense for him to turn back to the tree to gather chakra, focusing on staying as calm as possible. It works after about two tries this time, managing to get a good five feet above where he had been.
"Hey, Sasuke-teme, I think that's enough for today," calls out Naruto from his current position. "We need to go eat now."
The Uchiha merely replies with, "Hn."
"Come on! They're serving ramen!" Announces Naruto, grabbing his teammate's hand to drag him back to the house, grinning like a maniac all the way there.
When they arrive at the house they enter for them to sit down at the table. Seeing the food causes all thoughts of annoyance at the blonde for interrupting his training to disappear from Sasuke's mind. Damn, he sure is hungry. Naruto and Sasuke both begin eating ravenously, tearing into the food. Sakura, meanwhile, is marveling at how the two can eat so fast. She has indeed exhausted all of her chakra reserves, but not having as much chakra to begin with she doesn't need to eat as much in order to replenish her energy. Kakashi is also eating at a reasonable pace, not having tired himself out all that much.
Dinner continues without much mishap. The seven people all split up to go their own ways afterwards. Most depart to go to bed. Naruto is the only one that decides to stay up to train. Flash-stepping out to the clearing he's been practicing in earlier has it about a mile or two away from the one Sasuke and Sakura had been at. Sitting cross legged, Naruto gathers as much of his chakra as currently possible into his palm. Concentrating as hard as he can, he begins introducing threads of red chakra from Kurama into the mix. His intentions are to be able to use the power she gives, preferably with almost no chakra to make it safe for his chakra coils even though higher percentages of chakra are higher to control has them incapable of damaging his coils that way. His goal is to summon up at the least a small spark of kitsunebi, something he won't be able to do with human chakra.
Spending hours just sitting there, occasionally being thrown back when his control slips for the flame and beast chakra suddenly flares up. By the time he decides to call it quits, completely exhausting his supply of chakra, he manages to severely burn his arms and torso several times over, causing Kurama to have to pump extra of her chakra into his body in order to heal the injuries. Sadly, he still hasn't been able to create a flame that doesn't immediately turn into a bonfire to attempt to burn him alive.
That's a good start, kit. Just don't overdo it too much, ok?
()()()()()
The next day, Team 7 gathers in the original clearing. Naruto has managed to regain a bit of his chakra, but is still worn out. Kakashi tells them all that Sakura will be joining him in guarding Tazuna that day, while Sasuke and Naruto continue to work on their chakra control. Once at the bridge, Sakura sits down on the sidelines while Kakashi meanders off to who knows where. After about an hour of watching the construction workers work, Sakura begins to doze off.
"You look pretty bored over there by yourself," Tazuna calls out. "Where's that blonde idiot and the arrogant guy?"
"They're training in tree climbing exercises," she explains to the client.
"Oh, really?" Tazuna asks, thinking that tree climbing is a ridiculous thing to train in. "Why aren't you training too?"
"I'm really smart, so Kakashi-sensei told me to guard the bridge," she answers, not wanting to admit the real reason behind it.
"Really?" he asks incredulously, not seeing how the girl is all that smart
Picking up on his tone, Sakura grows angry. "Why, you!"
The bridge builder ignores her, currently talking to one of the workers that wants to quit. Hearing what the worker has to say, Tazuna calls for a lunch break. Due to how it's her job specifically to guard Tazuna, Sakura goes with him. Walking through the city, Sakura is hard pressed to see anything but signs of poverty and depression. Seeing the people walking around with signs saying that they'll do any work, and some just sitting there dejectedly, having lost all hope, she feels bad for these people. The feeling only intensified when a small child steps up to her, begging for her to comply to give the girl some candy.
"It's been like this ever since Gatou came," Tazuna says dejectedly. "The adults all lost their courage. That's why we need this bridge. It'll be a sign of hope. If only that bridge can be finished…. This town will finally be like it was before. Everyone will go back to normal…"
Sakura can only nod, having been driven speechless by the conditions of the city. They walk back to the bridge in silence.
That night at dinner, while Tsunami is washing the dishes and everyone else is finishing up; Sakura can't help to notice the torn picture that Inari has been staring at throughout dinner.
"Um, why are you hanging a torn picture?" she asks, curious about what it might mean. "It looks like someone purposefully tore out the fourth person in the group. Who is that person?"
Tsunami tenses up when she hears Sakura ask about the picture, "He was my husband."
"He was known as the hero of this village," Tazuna added in.
"The hero?" Sakura asks, interest perking up at the sound of a story to tell.
Inari, angered that his grandfather dare talk about his dad, curtly gets up to run out of the room, "What's with him?"
"Kaiza was the closest thing to a father that Inari ever had," Tazuna explain to them, glancing off the way that the child goes off in. "He was killed by Gatou after he saved the village from a flood. Gatou killed him because he didn't want the people to have a hero to look up to and rally to. When Kaiza died Inari stopped believing in the possibility of a hero."
Naruto clenches his fists when Sakura asks about the picture, knowing they've been tightening all throughout the story, "Well, then, I'm going to train extra hard, so that I can prove to Inari that there is such thing as heros."
Getting up from his seat, he goes out the room. When Kakashi tells him that he really doesn't need to train anymore. What else he says is that it can be dangerous, Naruto just reassures him not to worry, letting him know that he'll be fine. Having gotten his sensei to let him go train, Naruto goes over to the clearing in which he first met Haku, hoping beyond hope that he might be able to engineer events in such a way that Haku and Zabuza will both live for the Wave and his teammates also remain safe.
Hey, brat, wake up. Someone's coming, warns Kurama, annoyed at her host's lack of ability to defend himself.
Stirring, Naruto realizes what Kurama has said, So far, so good…
True to the original timeline, Haku soon shakes Naruto awake, telling him that if he stays out here that he might catch a cold.
"Are you a ninja?" Haku asks, noticing the headband on Naruto's forehead. "You have a forehead protector…"
"Yup! I'm training for a super hard mission," replies Naruto honestly. "What are you doing out here?"
"I'm gathering herbs for a friend of mine," answers Haku quietly, telling the truth to him.
"Can I help? My name's Naruto," the blonde offers.
"Sure Naruto-kun. This is what the herb looks like," the two spend about fifteen minutes gathering herbs in silence before Haku asks. "Naruto-kun, do you have a precious person?"
"Yes, just five though, but I think only two of them really like me," he says, causing Haku to smile a little at him considering how to the black haired male has five precious people, even if only two reciprocated the feeling, is quite a lot. "Do you want to be my friend, too?"
Haku is startled at the request, "Why do you ask that, Naruto-kun?"
"Not many people in my village like me. You seem like a nice guy, one who doesn't judge someone based on how unlucky or lucky they are when he or she is born."
Haku grows intrigued by this information. It sounds like he has the same problem he does, having thought that Konoha is a village that values those with bloodlines, "Why?"
"Before you get the wrong idea, it isn't because of a bloodline that most hate me. Konoha is in the habit of putting extra stock in those who have kekkei genkai. They hate me for a whole other reason entirely," explains Naruto, not liking to have to talk about this although will if he feels it's necessary.
"Oh, but then what is it?" Asks Haku, thinking it might be because his family has somehow brought immense shame onto themselves, not able to imagine how or why a whole village might hate one out of everyone else.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone this," begins Naruto with a visible frown. "But I get the feeling that not only do you understand me is that you're trustworthy. They hate me 'because I'm a jinchurriki even in a city like Konoha we suffer the same fate as elsewhere."
Haku starts upon hearing that the blonde is a jinchurriki of all things. He has heard of such beings, the containers for great demons, the like of which are far too powerful to be beaten normally. No matter where they are has them to always to be given hatred and seen as a reincarnation of the demon itself. Seeing the look of concern on the blonde's face, he hastens to reassure him that he doesn't hate him.
"Don't worry, Naruto-kun, I don't hate you. I understand what it's like to be hated for something you have no control over," reassures Haku.
"Thanks," grins Naruto slightly. "I'm glad you understand, hunter-san."
"Wh-what are you saying?" Stutters out Haku, hearing what he refers to him as, thinking that he can't possibly know or perhaps he might be able to figure it out.
"Either you're the hunter-nin that tricked me and my team when we fought Zabuza or you've got an identical twin somewhere out there posing as a hunter-nin," points out Naruto, his grin growing a little wider.
"How do you know?" Genuinely wanting to know, Haku's hand strays to his hidden weapons while he looks around for Naruto's teammates, expecting a trap of some sort.
"Your chakra signature's the same. No need to be alarmed though. I come in peace," says Naruto, smiling for now. Haku to become confused by his words. "I don't like having to fight people who are pretty much just like me. Besides, I want to find a way for us and our allies to stop fighting without too many casualties. Of course this excludes Gatou and his help."
"What do you mean?" Asking this, Haku has Naruto's full attention now.
"I want us to work together. Gatou is a dirty scumbag who's probably going to betray you and Zabuza. He'll probably try to have you killed," tells Naruto to Haku, receiving a nod as he's been suspecting all along that Gatou will be the kind to do that. "I'm thinking that if we can keep our friends from killing each other long enough for Gatou to announce that he's going to stop paying you two then we can beat that fucking piece of shit into a pulp. Still, we'll come out fine. Also, I don't want to have to fight a friend and a fellow outcast."
"Besides the increased chance of life, what's in it for me and Zabuza-sama?" Haku wants to know.
"You know how I said earlier that I'm a jinchurriki?" Begins Naruto up again. Seeing Haku nod for him to continue, "My demon is the crown princess of the kitsune. I can get you two as much money as you need. I'm currently trying to get together my own organization. If the two of you joined not only will you have my full support, but the support of the others I can convince to join along with any fox demons who still have a shred of common sense left in them even if you decide to strike out on your own you'll be paid to have my favor."
Considering htis, Haku seems to be in deep thought. Trying to start an organization is a high order for a seemingly thirteen-year old even if he is the jinchurriki of a crown princess. Several minutes pass by while a silence falls between them. When he's done thinking it over, he turns his gaze back on the blonde across from him.
What's in it for you, then?"
Shaking his head, Naruto tells him, "I thought I already told you. You're my friend and fellow sufferer. Of course, if you mean from a purely mercenary point of view, there's still a pretty good reason to help you two. You are the sole survivor of a clan with a powerful bloodline limit. Zabuza is one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."
Haku nods in consent to this, thinking that the explanation makes sense so far although there is one thing he feels concerned about, "But why start an organization in the first place if you're already a shinobi of one of the Five Elemental Countries?"
"I have many reasons. There are two main points though. One is too provide a rally point. This is also to be a way of gathering for outcasts like you, me, and Zabuza. The second reason is to combat organization such as the Akatsuki, the Kitsuekikage, and the Hogosha no Kanshisha. The Akatsuki is an organization consisting of S-rank criminals that hunts down jinchurriki in hopes of extracting their demon so that they can utilize its power. The Kitsuekikage also hunts jinchurriki, but for a different reason. They will outright kill the us because not only do they believe that we are abominations, but that we are a threat to society. They think that the only way to prevent jinchuuriki from being captured by people such as the Akatsuki or going AWOL is to kill them. The Hogosha no Kanshisha is the same as the Kitsuekikage, but they hunt people with bloodlines rather than people like me. Also, in addition, there are people like Orochimaru who prey on those with bloodlines, hoping to gain that power for their own aspirations for immortality."
Haku has been listening intently throughout the blonde's explanation, his face gradually grows paler and paler, being all to familiar with such people. Knowing as to where the blonde is coming from, setting up an organization specifically to counteract such people is a grand idea. It's something he thinks that he can get behind.
"Well, Haku-kun, what's it going to be?" Asks Naruto patiently.
Briefly wondering how he knows his name (and about his kekkei genkai, for that matter), taking a deep breath. What he hopes is that this is a good decision he's making here. It's not often that he makes these out of Zabuza's order. Though he thinks that this will aid them both in the long run.
"I'm in. So, what's the plan?"
Oks, that's the end of chappie thirteen. I apologize if it's a little short, but that's just how it is. Hopefully you all are liking the progression and changes I'm making to this. Damn, there's still oh so much more content for this I have yet to revise. Hehes
It'll be fun to continue working on this. I hope you all enjoyed. The next chappie will be out shortly whenever I have it finished being revised. Hopefully that won't be too long of a wait for it. Until then, please remember to review, darlings!