Chapter 24:

"Alright, so if we want to be prepared if more men attack again, you'll need more training." I nod, trying my best to control the tension that I feel. We're already at Tazuna's home. Nothing has happened. No attack from a certain one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. No attack from anyone. Nada, absolutely nothing bad has happened so far. And this scares me.

I'm scared, and I'm trying my best to hide it. I'm aware of the stress and paranoia trapped in my chest. I should be happy that nothing bad has happened. But it just adds more distress. I don't know what's going to happen. The lack of the control that I have in the situation makes it worse.

Now I'm wondering, what happened to Zabuza and Haku? Did it have something to do with me? If so how did I make that change? What are the biggest changes that I have made in the plot? I don't know what I have done other than catch Orochimaru's eye and joining team seven.

"Erin! Are you coming!?" I jump and turn around to see Sakura trying to get my attention as she stands in the doorway.

"Oh-yes." I stand and silently follow. I jog slightly to catch up with the others. Soon we reach the front of the house. This village is the strangest thing that I have ever seen.

I look around with a small amount of wonder at the floating village. Small wooden bridges connect everything, allowing a very closely knit community. I glance back at the island which we were dropped off. That's most likely where we'll be training and it's also where the market is. This place is pretty cool but I would never live here by choice. I don't like the unstable wooden structures and one of my biggest fears is drowning. Drowning and suffocating. Not to mention that this place is poor. I look ahead and spot three orphans depressingly sitting on a bridge. The only thing that I like about this place is how chilly it is.

It reminds me of home, in Canada. The others clearly aren't enjoying the cold weather. Sasuke and Sakura run at their bear arms to try to generate heat. Despite wearing a jumpsuit,Naruto curls into himself. Kakashi doesn't show any signs outwardly, but I can feel that he's using more chakra than usual to stay warm. Me? Actually I'm far more comfortable in this weather than in Konoha. Instead of wearing my full trench coat as gloves, I would simply wear my violet tank top with mesh armour beneath, but I'm far too paranoid for that right now. I'm dressed in my full gear along with my boots (not sandals) and kunai holster.

A realization hits me, I jog slightly to walk alongside Kakashi. I cough to get his attention but he doesn't immediately react. After a few seconds, I finally decide to speak, "Sensei?"

"Hmm?" Wow.

"What are you teaching us? Is it tree climbing?" I ask, Kakashi blinks his showing eye and looks down at me.

"Yes, you guessed quickly." He comments casually. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…" I say awkwardly, I wonder what he'll get me to do instead? "I already know how to do that." Kakashi looks genuinely surprised, but I feel as if he should already know that I can do that.

"Hmm, I suppose that you can wait for me back at Tazuna's home. I have something for you to do." I nod and promptly ninja jump back, over the others and begin walking back.

"Show off!" I hear Sakura yell and I glance back to see the other three genin struggling to keep their balance on the bow rocking bridge. I turn back around and throw my hand up in a small wave, ignoring the shouting behind me.

~0~

I sit in front of our clients home. Resting my sketchbook on my crossed legs and holding my pencil in my right hand. Ready to start working. I glance down at my smaller storage seals. I'm going to use them as a reference.

I look forward for a moment and allow myself to focus on the water. Small waves lap at the rotting wood.

Kakashi is still out with the others and I'm still waiting. I let out a tired sigh and bring my pencil closer to the paper. Only to abruptly jump and pull it away as I feel a new chakra signature appear in my sensing radios. I look to my right only to see a civilian child playing across the water. I let out another sigh and finally begin writing English letters in a circular pattern.

I'm in the middle of writing an A when somebody speaks. "That's really pretty. What is it?" I look down at my messed up A in irritation before looking back up at Tazuna's daughter. Tsunami.

"It's a storage seal." I state flatly and the woman pauses.

"Oh that's interesting. I guess that shinobi like you would need seals like that to hold their supplies." Why is she even talking to me?

I smirk at what I'm about to say, "well I actually was planning on using this seal to store an enormous boulder. Then in a fight I could launch it at them and crush them like insects. Then I would also put a seal on it so that it would explode." My explanation got the exact reaction that I was looking for. The woman looks slightly horrified and takes a small step away from me. "But yeah, storing supplies would work too." I say with a shrug.

Tsunami looks utterly dumbfounded, "well umm, good luck with that. I need to go inside and sweep." She says before promptly retreating into her home.

I continue to smirk and turn back to my work. The messed up A was definitely worth that reaction. "I would advise that you shouldn't terrorize our clients. But I'm not sure if you would listen." Oops.

I look up at Kakashi, "of course you show up up when that happens." I state with sarcasm, "sorry, that I got caught." The man let's out a sigh.

"Get up, I'll show you what you'll be learning." I nod and seal away my supplies before standing. I expect that we'll be moving somewhere else for my trading but Kakashi casually just steps off of the floating wood and onto the water. I almost run forward to stop him but then I realize that in this world, people can literally walk on water. "You'll be learning water walking. Now, just focus your chakra to your feet like tree climbing and step onto the water." He explains and I blink in confusion.

"I'm gonna what now?" I ask and look nervously down at the almost black abyss below me. Like I said before, one of my biggest fears is drowning. I indeed can swim but if I fell into THIS water specifically, I don't know how cold it is and if it's cold enough it can make my muscles freeze up for a few seconds and by then I don't know how far I would've sank and the water is very dark and I would loose sense of direction and I'm done talking about this now.

Kakashi sighs and looks at me boredly. "Just focus your chakra to your feet and step onto the water." He pauses and gives me an odd look, "why? Is there something wrong."

"Oh! Umm-no." I say awkwardly but continue to stare down at the waves.

"Then come on." I almost flinch but allow the necessary amount of burning chakra to flood into my chest and down through my legs. Within a few seconds, it's reached the bottoms of my feet. I pause, still staring at the water, "Erin." I let out an exasperated sigh and shuffle forward so that my toes are at the edge of the wooden platform.

"Are you going to step out or are you just going to stare at the water all day?"

"Tch." I do a half step forward so that if it doesn't work I can pull myself out. I abruptly jump back and let out an embarrassing squeak when the water touches my foot and practically explodes away.

"You put too much chakra into it. Try again." Kakashi says calmly, waiting. An idea comes into my mind and I simply sit on the edge. "Erin, step out or else I'll drag you out." My sensei says with irritation now.

"Just a second. I have an idea." I say, I pull a small amount of chakra away from my feet before placing both of them down firmly. This time the water doesn't explode but foams beneath my boots. I continue to put in less and less chakra until small ripples form beneath my feet. That's the best that I can do without sinking. The same thing happens with tree climbing. No matter how hard I try, my chakra always does damage. "Alright." I say nervously before slowly putting on more weight onto my feet. Then I finally stand and cautiously step forward.

"Hmm, I guess that your way of learning is both faster and more efficient. I wonder why nobody's come up with that before?" Comments Kakashi as I carefully force myself to keep walking forward. Going against the laws of physics in just so… wrong.

I wobble slightly as I struggle to keep my balance because of the small waves. Alright, I can do this. My eyes suddenly widen when I hear the familiar sound of a kunai being thrown and shout. Without thinking, I dive forwards. Halfway down I realize something. I done goofed. I desperately try to bring chakra to my hands in time but it's far too late. It takes my chakra about two to five seconds for me to gain control. I plunge face first into the black water with a shriek which is promptly muffled by the water.

I float in complete darkness for a brief moment, before my instincts kick in and I swim in the direction which I think is up. Luckily for me, I swam in the right direction and break the surface. I cough as I choke on the water which I inhaled and swim to the rotten wood quickly.

After I finally finish coughing I look up and glare at the silver haired jonin. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" I snap and stand up.

"I wanted to test something."

"WELL DID YOU GET THE ANSWERS THAT YOU WANTED BECAUSE I SURE DIDN'T ENJOY IT VERY MUCH!?" I'm royally pissed. He could tell that the water was freaking me out and yet decided that he should perform a "test".

"Well, I definitely got answers." He says with a shrug and walked off of the water and stepped onto the wooden platform which keeps Tazuna's home afloat. "Keep practicing, water walking should be second nature for all shinobi. I'll be in the house if you need any advice."

I stare at him angrily as he just leaves. Stupid Kakashi and his stupid tests and his stupid and cruel sense of humour and the stupid throwing of kunai and I could've died.

I freeze briefly when I realize that we have a similar sense of humour. Oh shit, I actually have a scary amount of things in common with him. I don't know if I want to have anything in common with him other than being a total badass.

All that I know is that someday I will have my vengeance. And it will be sweet.

~0~

A/N: hey! Sorry about the short chapter, next week I plan on making it longer!

Anyway I made a drawing of Erin which will be this story's cover photo! I'd be totally be cool with it if you guys made fan art! Maybe I would use your art for the cover!

Also, there will soon be an explanation as to why Zabuza and Haku haven't shown up. But believe me that they will have who I think is an even stronger opponent to fight! *evil laughter* you're gonna be surprised!

Hmm, actually when you think about it young Kakashi and Erin are actually very alike. Of course Erin has more friends and everything but in case you haven't noticed they're normally pursuing her. If they never talked to her Erin wouldn't care nor try to build a relationship. The difference between her and Kakashi is that she won't just ignore somebody.