Chapter 37: Realization

BEEP!

The small noise was almost inaudible with the surrounding noises of the middle of the forest. It was the beginning of the afternoon - a hot, summer afternoon.

"Thirty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds," Lee looked up from the stop-watch to Natarii. She stood, hunched over with her hands on her knees for support, breathing heavily as she tried to catch her breath. Beads of sweat poured down her forehead, and her face was red with exhaustion. "It was better than last week's time."

"But not good enough," Natarii managed to get the words out between breaths. Running three and a half miles really wasn't her strong point. She lifted her head. "What else can I do?"

Lee's eyes grew wide with enthusiasm. "You could-"

"Take a break," Naruto interrupted. He stood against a tree with his arms folded across his chest.

Surprised, Natarii turned her head sharply toward him. "Say what?! Take a break? It's unlike you to say something like that."

"You still haven't built your stamina up to what it should be," Naruto explained. "If you keep working at such intense levels, you'll end up overworking yourself."

"So, you finally found something reasonable to say?" Natarii teased. She smiled. "I could get used to this. You should use your brain more often, Naruto."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Ha ha. You're hilarious."

"Thank you!" Natarii exclaimed, disregarding his sarcasm. She made her way to a plastic waterbottle she placed on the ground at the base of a tree trunk earlier in the day. She picked up the half-empty bottle and took a sip. The water was warm and bitter tasting, thanks to the heat of the summer day. But she didn't really care how it tasted at this point. Water is water.

Naruto stood in thought for a moment. Then, out of the blue, he remembered something important. "Natarii."

Natarii looked at him, giving her his attention.

"Tomorrow's your birthday, right?"

Natarii nodded slowly.

"Eh?! Is it really?" Lee asked enthusiastically.

Natarii nodded once more. "Why bring that up now?" She almost sounded irritated.

"We have to celebrate!" Lee exclaimed, throwing a fist into the air.

"Please don't. I don't celebrate my birthday."

"But it's your birthday!"

"The twenty-seventh of June hasn't been the birthday of Takanami Natarii in years. Especially this year."

Naruto immediately knew what she was referring to. He regretted asking the question in front of Lee - he would never understand Natarii's strees over her birthday. But he had to make sure. Changing the subject, he stated, "We should test your agility."

"Agility?" Natarii's face instantly lit up.

"After going up against Deidara, of all people, your agility already seems to be pretty good."

"Really?"

Naruto nodded. "It takes a lot of effort to dodge bombs and stuff like that."

"I guess you have a point there." Natarii put her hands on her hips. "What do you want me to do?"

Lee got into a fighting position. "Dodge my attacks."

"I guess that's not a bad idea," Naruto began. "Bushy Brows is one of the fastest shinobi in the Leaf..."

Flustered, Lee turned quickly to Naruto, eyes sparkling with excitement. "Do you really mean that, Naruto-kun?!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, realizing what he just said. "Don't take it the wrong way. I can easily it back."

Lee didn't say anything more and returned to his fighting stance. "Are you ready, Natarii-san?"

"All I have to do is dodge your attacks?"

Lee nodded.

Natarii got in a stance similar to Lee's. "Let's do this."

"Here I come!" Lee threw a swift punch at Natarii's face. Her eyes narrowed with determination. Without trouble, she maneuvered to the side.

Lee's eyes widened with surprise. He didn't expect Natarii to dodge so easily. He threw another attack by her left shoulder. The reaction was even quicker than before. The next punches were quicker and thrown rapidly. Before long, after getting the same results, Lee was full out sparring with Natarii. The only difference was she wasn't allowed to attack.

Maneuver left. Maneuver right. Crouch. Maneuver right. Jump. Back away. Left. Left. Right. Back. Left. Right. Down. Up. Back. Down. It continued for minutes on end.

Naruto watched Natarii with wide eyes. She didn't even look tired. How did she dodge Lee so smoothly? He was a Taijutsu user. That could be one reason. Taijutsu isn't nearly as difficult to dodge as some Ninjutsu attacks. But Lee was fast. Obviously, Natarii was fast too. But how was she so fast? Naruto watched more closely than he had been. If he saw correctly, he noticed Natarii's mouth moving. She was muttering something under her breath as Lee threw punches and kicks at her. Yet, she continued to dodge with ease. Was what she was saying helping her?

WHAP!

Natarii flopped onto the ground, breathing heavily. Her right cheek was swollen with red. She rubbed it, trying to ease the pain. Although, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the punch to the nose from her classmate in the hallway.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Natarii-san!" Lee exclaimed. "I just assumed you were going to keep dodging! I got a little carried away...I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Natarii shook her head with a smile. "Not at all. It's just a bit swollen. It'll be all right." She looked up at Lee. "I appreciate you not going easy on me."

Lee chuckled, his cheeks flushed with pink.

Naruto walked over to the two. "Natarii."

Natarii turned to him. "What?"

"How'd you do that exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

"How'd you dodge him so easily? He'd throw a punch," Naruto threw a fake punch, "and you'd be all like -" He moved to the side as Natarii had done during her practice. "You made it look easy on your first try!"

"Did I?" Natarii asked as she stood up. "It's really quite simple."

Naruto instantly backed away slightly. There was an explanation coming he wouldn't understand.

Natarii held up one finger. "First, I estimate how far away the opponent is standing. Bushy Brows stood approximately fourty-six centimeters away from me. I can find this estimation based on envisioning a ruler in my head." Natarii held up another finger. "Second, based on his positioning, I can take another estimation of the speed, velocity, and acceleration of the attack." Natarii threw a couple punches. "Based on the measurements of speed, velocity, and acceleration, there is the given time of escape. In the case of Bushy Brows, there is an open window of about 0.47 seconds." Natarii raised a finger. "But that's not all. I also need to know the direction of attack. This is also based on his positioning." She moved to a fighting position. "If my shoulders are angled slightly like this -" Natarii angled her shoulders to the right. "The punch will be from the left hand aiming toward the opponent's right. Thus, I have to dodge left." She maneuvered to the left. "Same applies for left, up, and down. Knowing all these facts, I have approximately one half of the given escape time to dodge. The rest relies on instinct, speed, and experience."

Naruto and Lee stared blankly at Natarii, not understanding a word she just said.

"You figure that out in your head?" Lee asked, unconvinced.

"Yes."

Lee pointed to the treetops. "Then, if you can do all that and dodge my attacks, can you jump between trees?"

Natarii thought for a moment. "I recall doing it once or twice during my encounter with Deidara and when I escaped from the hospital, so I probably can." Though, they were rather clumsy attempts, she finished in her mind.

"That's awesome!" Lee exclaimed. "You're such a fast learner!"

Natarii rubbed the back of her neck and managed a small smile. "Looks like all my hard work payed off then."

"Hard work?" Lee repeated.

"It's nothing." Natarii turned to Naruto, who stood blankly, lost in thought. "Naruto?"

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts. "What?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just thinking about something."

"Care to share?"

Naruto glanced at Lee out of the corner of his eye, then his gaze went back to Natarii. "I'll tell you when today's training is over."

Natarii nodded and turned back to Lee. "Now what?"

Lee thought for a moment, looking at the exhausted girl in front of him. "I guess we could finish up here. We will sprint to the main training fields!"

"Sprint?! Are you out of your mind?!" Natarii shouted.

"Do you want to raise your stamina or not?" Lee questioned. "The fields aren't that far."

"They're half a mile away!" Natarii protested. "That's far!"

"Guess you won't get stronger then," Lee said firmly.

Natarii sighed. "All right. Fine. We'll sprint." She reluctantly positioned herself next to Lee, not looking forward to the torture ahead. But she knew she had to do it for the sake of stamina.

Lee motioned for Naruto to join them. "You too, Naruto-kun."

"Guess it's only fair that way." Naruto walked up next to Natarii.

"Ready?" Lee asked one last time.

Natarii and Naruto nodded.

"Go!" Lee broke out into an immediate sprint, weaving in and out of trees.

Naruto followed him, suddenly feeling competitive. The two were neck and neck.

Natarii followed, sprinting as fast as she could behind the two boys. She managed to keep up with them at a fair distance - one she thought was better than she originally imagined.

They ran swiftly down the forest path. Natarii was starting to slow down, but she refused to not accomplish her task. It seemed like ages, but after a few minutes, the main training fields were in sight. Naruto and Lee finished and made it to the field at their fastest pace. Natarii was still lagging behind a bit, but she fastened her pace and made it to the field with every ounce of her effort. As soon as she made it, she doubled over, using every ounce of her strength to catch her breath.

"Good work today, Natarii-san!" Lee gave Natarii a thumbs-up sign. He didn't even break a sweat.

Natarii gave Lee a weak thumbs-up sign in return, unable to say a word.

"I'll leave you two here," Lee began. "I have my own workouts to complete!" He waved good-bye and ran off.

Natarii flopped onto her back and stared at the sky. Naruto sat down next to her. He looked around, making sure no one else was nearby. The coast was clear. "So, tomorrow's your birthday?" He randomly asked.

"Why are you so concerned about my birthday?" Natarii asked, sounding annoyed. "It's not even my birthday anymore. If your going to buy me a present, I won't accept it. I stopped accepting gifts."

"It's not that. I was wondering if-"

"I don't enjoy doing things with people on my birthday either. I like to have that day to myself. And...Keizu."

"Don't you think it'd be good to get your mind off it for a change?"

"It'll be ten years tomorrow. I don't plan on changing my ways."

"What if I told you you're ready?"

Natarii looked at Naruto strangely. "Ready? For what?"

"You know...the break in."

Natarii's eyes widened. She had completely forgotton about their plan to break into the house where all the secret and forbidden scrolls were kept. "You want to do that tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

That's it for this week's chapter!

Next is: "Chapter 38: Birthday Break-In!" It's Natarii's birthday and the tenth anniversary of Keizu's death. To get Natarii's mind of the sadness, Naruto insists upon plotting the break-in! Will they finally find what they've been looking for?

'Til next time!

- ChibiNinja45