Chapter 25:

I run across the water smoothly. This is my second day of training and I've almost completely mastered water walking. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura don't know that I can do this yet but Kakashi's told me that Sakura is almost ready to move on. And he wants me to teach her. I've learnt now to keep a small amount of extra chakra ready for my hands in case I fall.

But right now I'm still practicing. I haven't left Tazuna's home yet but I think that he wants to go to the market today. Currently I'm in charge of guarding the household. I think that I'm doing a pretty good job. Inari basically just sulks around so he's easy to keep track of, Tsunami mostly just stays in the house, and Tazuna will go out to visit somebody who lives nearby every so often. But I can still sense him. I mentally keep track of who's in my sensing range. Whenever somebody new comes around I'll briefly check to make sure that they're civilian.

I stop running begin one of my old forms from Tae Kwon Do. Underblock. Hammerfist. Turn, Underblock. Hammerfist. Turn, Side-body. Side-body. Front kick-backfist-side body. Front kick-backfist-side-body. Front step-back fist. Turn-

"Oi! Erin!"

'Yes sir!' I answer automatically in English as I turn around and stand at attention. Just to see Kakashi giving me a confused look while Sakura stares at me in wonder. I abruptly feel heat flushing my cheeks with embarrassment and I awkwardly scratch at the back of my head.I guess that I'm in Tae Kwon Do mode right now. "Eh, what is it?" I ask quietly and feel even more heat rush into my face.

Kakashi promptly switches back to his regular, bored stature. "Tazuna-san wants to go to the market and you and Sakura are going to guard him." I nod and walk towards them, as I step onto the wood I allow my chakra to move back towards my chest. Leaving the necklace which only I'm aware of, warm. I let out a small sigh as the tension that chakra creates leaves my body. "After he's finished I want you to teach Sakura how to water walk."

"Hn." I answer simply before promptly searching out Tazuna's chakra signature and walking into the house. I pause with the door still half open. "Are you coming, Sakura?"

"Oh, yeah!" She answers quickly before following after me. Once we get in I find a wall and casually lean against it.

"Tazuna-san, we're going to escort you when you go to the market." I greet the man who's sitting at the table as if he had been talking to Tsunami while she cleaned. He turns to me with a raised brow and crosses his arms stubbornly.

"Just you two girls!? Not your Sensei?" I narrow my eyes and cross my arms in my own irritation.

"Yes. Do you have a problem?" Sakura looks between us nervously with both of her hands on her chest. "Of course if you think that we're under qualified we could just-"

"No! No, I'm happy with you two." I smirk, I've won this battle.

I nod and move from my place against the wall. "Are you ready to go then?"

"Yeah, just a second." Tazuna huffs and stands from his seat. "We should be back in a couple of hours." He directs his last sentence to his daughter who glances at me but nods. I think that I've planted a seed of fear within this family. I don't know if that's good or bad. I silently wait while Tazuna grabs a small bag which probably has his money in it. That's all that he's bringing? I blink at the small wallet skeptically and subconsciously shove a hand into my trench coat's pocket to feel the seal that I keep my money in.

I'm given a monthly allowance plus my pay for missions. I wonder how much money Tazuna's family makes? I know that they definitely have more money than the majority of the citizens. We've been here for three days and two nights. They've been feeding us full and healthy breakfasts and dinners. We've, or at least, I've been simply eating food pills instead of lunch since I've been training. Food pills will give someone the nutrients that they need but won't make them too full to perform properly. If only they didn't taste so bitter…

"Erin, now you're the one who's holding us up!" I blink in surprise and turn to see the others waiting at the door. Both Sakura and Tazuna have irritated expressions and I feel slightly embarrassed.

I quickly follow the others as we leave. We soon get off of the bridges and onto dry land. I feel relief flood through me when there isn't any more rocking beneath me. I look up at Tazuna, there's been a question that I've wanted to ask him for a while. "Hey Tazuna-san?"

"What is it?" He asks grumpily and I immediately feel irritated.

I roll my shoulders and keep my voice cool, "why didn't you just hire some shinobi from Kirigakure? They're closer to wave country than Konohagakure." Tazuna stiffens but continues to walk, I'm aware of Sakura's curiosity spiking beside me.

"Well… uh," the man answers hesitantly while I listen intently. His answer might help explain why we haven't seen Zabuza and Haku. "Lately, there has been a lot of political unrest within Kiri. I've heard that they're looking for a new Mizukage." I raise my brows. A new Mizukage… that could change an awful lot for all of the hidden villages.

Tazuna now speaks with a lowered voice and Sakura and I have to lean in slightly to hear everything that he's saying. "I've heard that they're trying to rebuild the Seven Ninja Swordsman." Huh, is Suigetsu succeeding in his dream? Maybe that's why Zabuza currently isn't here. It might have to do with rebuilding the Seven Ninja Swordsman.

"But that sounds almost impossible! Didn't almost all of the swords end up being taken away from Kiri!?" Asks Sakura.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised if they succeeded in getting them back. I've heard that Kiri isn't a village that you should mess with." I say with my mind still on Suigetsu. Did he somehow manage to change something?

~0~

As we walk through the market a silence falls between our group. All of the shops barely have anything and I try my best to ignore the beggars on the streets. I end up making eye contact with someone and promptly drop my gaze.

"There's barely anything in the shops…" Sakura points out the obvious but I simply nod in agreement.

"Gato's company taxes everyone far too much so farmers can't buy seeds and livestock. Plus beneath his company he deals drugs so there is an awful lot of gang violence here. Not to mention that we're separated from the mainland. That's why I, and several other citizens are building this bridge." I "Hn," in acknowledgment as I try my best to take everything in. But there isn't very much. Except for the woman who seems to be cornered by a man…

Alarms abruptly sound off in my mind at the sight of a young woman backed up against a wall by a middle aged man. I narrow my eyes as he moves and places his arm around her in what some people may call a "seductive" way. No, that woman looks terrified and the man's hand looks very close to her breast. I glance around, nobody else is seeing this. Or at least they're pretending not to see it.

"Sakura." I say quietly to get the pink haired girl's attention, this woman needs help. Right now.

"Hmm?" The girl's green eyes turn towards me curiously and I gesture towards the pair. Once Sakura spots them I see her stiffen. She's just about as angry and disgusted by this as I am. I nod at her and we widen our stride, and leave Tazuna a couple of metres behind us.

"Hey." I growl, making the man turn around along with the terrified girl. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" The woman is looking at us as if we're her savours.

The man's disgusting face contorts with anger and I feel my hand twitch towards my kunai holster. "This has nothing to do with you brats! Leave us alone." By now several people have stopped and are silently watching but aren't making a move to help either side. "She's my girlfriend." The women stares at Sakura and I pleadingly as the man's hand is still near her breast.

I feel anger flood through me and can't keep my voice from shaking. "Well-" I let out a gasp of surprise as Sakura makes a move. Punching the man right in the chest and to my amazement, sends him flying approximately four metres backwards.

"IT'S RUDE TO TOUCH A WOMAN WITHOUT HER PERMISSION! CHA!" Sakura clenches her fist and I can see blood vessels bulging from her flexed muscles which seemed to come out of nowhere. Holy shit. The man quickly crawls back onto his feet before promptly bolting away. This is definitely a "she's our friend and she's crazy!" moment.

"Y-Yeah! You better leave women alone from now on!" I call to the man who is still running. But it clearly doesn't have the same effect as Sakura's punch. A few people who had gathered clap at Sakura's efforts and I can't help but feel a little bit jealous. I wanted to do something badass.

The woman who we just saved turns to us and bows lowly. "Thank you so much. I was really scared." I look at her closely, she looks like she's my age or maybe even a year or two older. She has the basic side character look with simple brown eyes and brown hair. She actually looks similar to a younger version of Minami. Minami also has the side character look except for her bright green eyes.

I snap back out of my thought process as an older woman hurriedly forced her way through the crowd. I can see the relief on her face as she finally reaches us and grips the young woman's arm. "Finally I found you! I was so worried!" She pulls the younger woman into a hug and strokes her hair, "with everything that's been happening lately you can't just wander off like that. Don't scare your mother!" I raise a brow, I wonder if she'll tell her mother about the incident that just took place.

"Sorry, I got lost! But these shinobi helped me." She lies quickly and sends us another pleading look. I can understand why she wouldn't want to her mother to know what just happened.

"Well, thank you for looking out for my daughter." She reaches out as if to pat our heads but stops herself, clearly remembering that we're shinobi.

"It's no problem, Ms." answers Sakura casually and I "hn," in agreement. I suppose that I'm willing to keep the fellow female's secret. The two bow once more before moving in their way. Sakura has a faint smile on her face. "Wasn't it so sweet how worried the mom was about her daughter? It reminded me of my parents. If they don't know where I am they completely FREAK." I start to walk, only half aware of Tazuna following slightly behind.

"Yeah, I guess that it was sweet." I say with a shrug, unable to relate. "But what bothers me is that she has a reason to worry." I add with a darker note.

Sakura blinks at me in confusion at my lack of emotion, before nodding with agreement. "That man was disgusting. I can't believe that some people are like that!"

"Hn!"

~0~

So you'd think that after dealing with one pervert we'd be done. But NO of course not. Our group quietly picks out some of the few vegetables in a shop. The majority of these are low quality and I can't help but crinkle my nose slightly as I try to pick out the best ones. I'm starting to realize how lucky I am that I woke up in one of the larger nations. When you think about it, unless smaller nations like this have a very large amount of an important resource, they're going to be poor. A realization hits me. Small countries must be caught in the crossfire of many wars between the larger nations.

"Tazuna-sa-" I stop talking when I feel something GRAB MY ASS. I whip around and find myself facing a man who looks to be in his twenties with a disgusting smirk on his face. I can tell that he did that completely in purpose. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME YOU PERVERTED PIECE OF SHIT!" I snarl and the man opens his mouth to speak but I punch him in the throat. He chokes and grabs his neck. I then give him a hard kick in the balls. He moves his hands to his groin and drops to his knees. Then I spin around and knock him backwards with a back side kick to the chest.

I don't even pause for a second when I jump forwards and pin him to the ground with a hand on his throats and a knee planted on his chest. "What is wrong with the men here!? Seriously!?" I direct my question to Tazuna who now has walked behind me along with Sakura. I look down at the terrified and shocked man. I wonder how scary it is to find out that the girl that you just tried to grope is a shinobi?

He stares at me wide eyed, "I-I'm sorry if I knew that you were a shinobi-"

"YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT TO ANYONE, PRICK!" I interrupt angrily, "you should respect everyone that you meet!" I allow myself to calm down slightly.

"Erin-san, you're making a scene…" I hear Tazuna say hesitantly behind me, "he was raised this way, maybe you can show him a little bit of mercy…?" My fury flares up once again.

"Does this look like the face of mercy to you!?" I snap and tighten my grip on the man's throat. I look down and let out a small sigh, "you got lucky this time but next time… I could try testing some new explosive seals." I then step off of the man who quickly crawls to his feet and bolts. Similar to how the middle aged man from earlier did.

"Let's grab the things that you need and get going." I turn and growl at Tazuna who flusteredly turns around and pays for the food. He then turns to lead the way back. I'm aware of Sakura and Tazuna's now tense mood though I don't really care. I suppose that my be-

Wow I'm just being cut off like crazy today. But nobody else notices the flare of chakra on the roof of one of the shops. I almost choke, there's such a large amount of it. It feels so overwhelming and I almost wonder if this is tailed beast chakra. I turn my head to try and find where the source of the chakra is coming from. But as quickly as it appeared it's gone. Poof, it disappeared. When I look at the roof I see nothing like whatever it was, was never there. I blink in confusion and consider investigating.

I glance at the others who are completely oblivious. Should I tell them…? No. I don't want to bring more anxiety than I need to. When we get back I'll tell Kakashi. But still… what exactly was that?

~0~

"So, I just run onto the water?" Asks Sakura nervously as she looks down at the water.

"Yes." I lie smoothly from my spot, I just want to have a little bit of fun. "That's how it worked for me." The girl hesitantly continues to look down at the clearly cold water.

After a few seconds she gives a determined nod and runs into the water, plunging straight down. This is probably the most hilarious thing that I have seen. "ERIN! YOU LIED!" Sakura screams as she breaks the surface and I burst into laughter. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS! CHA!"

Uh oh.

~0~

A/N: hello everyone! I think that this chapter was a little bit sloppy, I'm sorry.

Anyways, I've decided that for personality wise Erin is an INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging). An INTJ is the rarest personality type in our general population, they only take up about 2% in total. And they only take up about 1% of women. The INTJ is considered the "mastermind". For the majority of the time Erin is having a deep thought process and is a big problem solver. When Erin decides to put her mind to something she'll know everything about it. She's also always looking to improve her own skills and add to her arsenal of knowledge.

Erin is seen as reserved and serious. Until you get to know her, then she has a little bit of personality. Whenever somebody asks her a question she will think through it very carefully before giving an answer. Erin is confident about most of her knowledge and normally expects others to see her perspective. But, if somebody else shares an opinion or fact that doesn't make sense Erin is not worried about pointing that out.

Checked out the internet, apparently Kakashi's an INTJ? The same with Itachi but I think that he might be an INFJ?

Anyway, can you guys guess who the enemy for the big fight is gonna be? *evil laughter*