Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto Franchise that belongs solely to Masashi Kishimoto; I do not own Heaven's Lost Property, High School DxD, or any other Anime I borrow themes from. The only thing I claim is my OC's and original Story Plot.


Author's Note (A/N): Hey guys I'm back again with another chapter. This one is significantly shorter than all the others but it isn't really a filler chapter but more like a intermediate or break. It's still important for character development and exposition but other than that it doesn't go further than that. Anyway's I hope you enjoy this chapter.


Chapter 14

The True Tree Walking Exercise

Later that day Naruto returned home from his "walk" and he found himself back at Tazuna's house. Entering he found Tsunami in the kitchen just doing small little chores. "Your back." Tsunami exclaimed when she saw Naruto kick off his shoes. "Yeah that walk was just what I needed. Where is everyone?" Naruto conversed.

"Father is in the back with the rest of your team. My father brought over some of his friends and they are talking about the plans for the bridge." Tsunami explained. "I see well then I guess I better get out there then." Naruto replied as he went to get his shoes again.

"You're not like your teammates. What happened to you?" Tsunami spoke up stopping Naruto in his tracks. Naruto's shoulders sagged. "What didn't happen to me?" Naruto rhetorically asked. "I'm this way because that's just the hand I was dealt in live. I was never allowed to just simply be a kid and run around and play and be naïve. I was shown the harshness of this world and I was forced to act and be a grown up before I even knew what it was like to be a kid. It's as simple as that." Naruto said softly.

Tsunami had the aura of a caring mother and it made him want to open up to her. The only other person he would open up to in such a manner would be Shoko but she's not here right now and while he would not want to admit it Naruto could feel the pressure on his shoulders especially after learning what Gatō has up his sleeve a few minutes ago.

"But why?" The older woman asked. She didn't get it. She was an adult and yes she lived in this world dominated by shinobi just like everyone else but she was just a simple civilian in a small country. She didn't live in a Shinobi village nor did she understand their life style and culture. She didn't fully understand how cruel this world could be up until a few years prior when Gatō set his eyes on her home but even then she still didn't see the big picture.

"Because that's just how it is. I'm not complaining though. A lot of good as come from me walking this path. Things so good that I wouldn't give it up for the entire world. So in some ways I'm glad I've gone through the difficult things that I did because it was all worth it in the end." Naruto said softly with a melancholy look in his eyes. He was gently stroking the collar that he put around his wrist and the small little teddy bear like accessory that he had around his waist. He couldn't wear the collar around his neck which is actually Chaos in disguise because his neck has to heal so he put her around his wrist. Tsunami noticed this but she didn't quite understand the significance of those items. However she did notice that they were extremely important to him based on the look in his eyes that she could see.

Walking to the door Naruto slipped on his shoes. "If I never went through the things I did then I never would be where I am today and I never would have these good things around me. So I'm grateful because it's made me better and stronger than I could ever imagine." With that Naruto slipped out the door leaving the mother in silent awe at the young boy's strength. Hearing that it just made her want to know more about the boy who came all this way to save her home and country.

Entering the backyard of Tazuna's residence Naruto saw everyone standing around talking and conversing. Walking up Naruto grabbed everyone's attention. "Naruto your back." Sakura noticed. "Yeah that walk did me some good." The blond haired boy replied. "I'm sure it did." Sasuke said with a hidden glare in Naruto's direction. Naruto sent an apologetic look towards his teammate but Sasuke deflected it by walking away. Sighing Naruto came up to the adults and saw that they had big diagrams and blue prints spread out on top of a wide wooden table. "So what's going on?" Naruto asked. He quickly got acquainted with the workers that Tazuna worked with and after some idle chatter they explained to him their plans for the bridge and informed him of the materials they had left. Other information was shared as well and Naruto took it all in.

"Naruto why are you so concerned with all of this strategy talk?" Sakura asked Naruto. She was bored of the talk the adults were having but it would seem that Naruto was eagerly engaged in the talks. Kakashi told them they were going to start their training after this little meeting. "Because Sakura this information is important, soon we will need it and it will be useful. Besides when we get older we'll need to sit in on strategy meetings and things like this." Naruto calmly replied.

A few minutes later they finished talking and decide to go back home. They didn't have the necessary supplies to continue working on the bridge so construction would have to be put off. They would gather the supplies and start fresh tomorrow.

"Ok team lets go train." Kakashi spoke up. He was walking with a pair of crutches since he wasn't fully recovered. "I don't see the point in you guys trying. Nothing you do will be enough." Inari bitterly said as he stormed off. He was present with the adults who were talking and he too was interested in what they were talking about, but that was a given since his grandfather is a master construction worker. Naruto did some research on Tazuna when he had the chance and he learned that the old man was credited with creating many bridges and other land mark's all over the continent and he was granted the title master bridge builder because out of all of his different achievements his bridges were his most famous projects.

Some of his most famous bridges to date were the Kannabi and Tenchi bridges in The Village Hidden in the Grass with the Kannabi Bridge no longer standing do to it being destroyed during the Third Shinobi World War and a massive Stone Arch Bridge located in the Land of Iron. He is credited with many other bridges that are located in the other lands as well including the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth. Because of those lands geography they are perfect places to create bridges. He is quite famous for those achievements.

Naruto frowned heavily at this. He ignored it at the breakfast table because that was the first time he heard Inari say something not to mention he had just met the boy but to hear it again in the same day was a little off putting.


Bringing them to a clearing a few dozen yards away from Tazuna's house Kakashi stopped and turned to his students. "Ok guys we are going to start your training. And the way we are going to do that is by climbing trees." Kakashi said with an eye smile. Sakura and Sasuke looked completely lost but Naruto had a smile on his face. "Climbing trees? How is that going to help us?" Sakura asked. She looked completely skeptical. "If this is a joke Kakashi then it's not funny. Stop wasting our time." Sasuke said irritably. "Oh I assure you it's no joke. What I meant to say is you will be climbing this tree without using your hands. So in other words you are going to walk vertically straight up this tree to the top." Kakashi said and to prove it he walked over to a tree and put one foot on it and then another and then another and soon enough he was walking vertically up the tree like it was a horizontal surface. Showing off Kakashi walked out onto a thick branch but the thing was he was upside down and he was not falling off.

"What?" Sakura whispered in shock. Sasuke's eyebrows raised at this. "See easy as pie." Kakashi said with an eye smile. "Yes that version you're using is the easier one sensei." Naruto said from another branch above Kakashi. He too was hanging upside down. Sakura and Sasuke had shocked looks on their faces however Sasuke's soon turned to jealousy and anger. "What version? What do you mean by that Naruto?" Kakashi asked in curiosity.

Naruto dropped down from his branch which was very high up and landed in a crouch completely ok. "Sasuke you asked me why am I so strong, and how am I so much stronger than the both of you? Well for one the most important reason is because I have two very special reasons to be strong." Naruto started and he was thinking of Iris and Chaos when he said that. He could feel their giddiness and appreciation when he said that. "And two is because I've long since mastered this exercise in its entirety." Naruto said as he walked up to his two teammates.

"Oh and what are those two special reasons?" Sasuke challenged as he stared down his teammate. "One of these days really soon you just might find out that reason Sasuke. But as for this exercise I learned it the proper way. Not to mention the hardest way." Naruto continued as he rolled up his sleeve and started to circulate chakra throughout his body. Dozens of seals appeared all along his arms and they were all arranged in neat rows. Placing his finger over one Naruto ejected a small amount of chakra into the seal and in a large plume of smoke everyone heard two loud thuds like sounds hitting the ground. When the smoke cleared the other three members of Team 7 saw two full grown adult sized manikins dressed in plain clothes.

"Naruto why do you have manikins on you? And how did you summon them?" Sakura asked as she went over to one. As a girl who loves shopping Sakura sees these things in many of the stores she frequently visits. She was just wondering why Naruto had them. "Well, one they are for our exercise and two I summoned them with seals Sakura. We went over the basics of this in class." Naruto simply explained.

However what his teammates didn't need to know was the fact that these manikins actually belong to Iris. She loves to dress them up in clothes since she is into that sort of thing. Naruto wasn't completely interested in that at first but he was forced by the young girl to learn about fashion and other girly subjects. However he wanted to make her happy so he swallowed his very boyish pride and learned the ins and outs of fashion and after a while he came to enjoy it as a pass time since it was relaxing and it was a great stress reliever to work your mind around such a simple subject instead of battle strategies.

"Here is what you have to do." Naruto started to explain. By this point everyone was gathered around him. Sasuke was reluctantly listening since Kakashi looked like he was interested in what was going on. He seemed to be remembering something judging by the look in his eye. Naruto picked up the heavy manikin that actually weighed 140 pounds. It was the average weight for an adult male of this size. He used only his good arm. Walking over to the tree Naruto laid down on his back which was slightly difficult with his sore shoulder and with the manikin on top of him it made it even more difficult but he managed.

"Now take one foot and place it on the tree. You must regulate your chakra and make it stick to the tree. Once you feel like your foot won't come off then you place your second foot higher on the tree and make it stick. Once you have that then you place your first foot above your second one and so on and so forth. On the flip side you must also concentrate on holding onto this manikin and making sure that it does not fall from your grasp. It is heavy. Heavy just like a normal human body. So you have to be careful. You must make it up to the top of the tree and then make it back down without dropping your manikin once or falling off. The second you either drop your manikin or you fall off you have to start over." Naruto explained and as he was talking he was physically demonstrating his point by walking all the way up the tree and then back down. He walked up to his teammates who were shocked at this.

Kakashi had a certain look in his eyes that the others couldn't place but Naruto thought it looked like he was remembering something good. Like an old memory that was filled with nostalgia. "How did you learn such a thing?" Sakura said in absolute shock. She wasn't stupid. She could see the slightest bit of strain on Naruto's face as evident by the fact that she and everyone else could see a small bit of sweat building up on Naruto's face. The others could tell that his broken shoulder was affecting him even now and that it slowed down his demonstration.

"By a very precious and special friend of mine." Naruto replied with a fond look in his eyes. Sasuke and Sakura were curious now about that look since they don't usually see Naruto with such an expression on his face. "Special friend? Are you talking about Hinata?" Sakura guessed. It was no secret that Naruto was very close to the Hyūga Heiress and they could be seen sitting together all throughout their academy years. Not to mention the way Naruto acted on graduation day against Kiba.

Hearing this, a somewhat shy blush spread across Naruto's face at Sakura's innocent suggestion. He would freely admit that Hinata was special to him and she was his closes friend with Henrietta taking up the very close number two position. But in that regard Naruto never really ranked his friends in terms of importance since they were all extremely important to him because of how he values trust and friendship. But in terms of whom he's known the longest and been around the longest then it would be Hinata.

Naruto was thinking of Shoko at the moment. Out of all of his friends Shoko has changed him the most. She changed him from the little orphan who always got in way over his head and had to steal just to get by into a capable Shinobi and proud member of the Mafia who has the strength to protect his family and a will to never give up. For that he will eternally be grateful to her and always appreciated her. But there is one thing that's she's done for him that no one else can or did. She showed him what it's like to have a mother. The warmth and gentleness of a mother is something Naruto's always dreamed about. Shoko showed him this on multiple occasions and it's helped him get by when he really needed it.

"No it's not Hinata but maybe you'll get to meet her one day." Naruto corrected as he handed the manikin off to Sasuke who grabbed it but looked like he was uncomfortable holding it. The manikin is quite heavy. 'She?' Both Sasuke and Sakura thought. Now they were more curious but they had to focus on carrying the heavy manikin with them. "Why did she teach you this method?" Sasuke asked as he laid down on the ground like Naruto instructed. He didn't know why he was even going along with this but he would be lying if he said he wasn't interested.

"Because let me ask you this Sasuke. Have you ever killed a person before?" Naruto asked and this had everyone's attention. Sasuke was taken by surprise after hearing such a question but he contemplated this for a minute before turning to Naruto. "No… no I haven't." The last Uchiha replied. "Have you ever saved a person's live before?" Naruto continued. Shaking his head Sasuke replied no.

"Then that is why you will do this exercise. This manikin is your responsibility. You rescued it and now you have to protect it. They are hurt and injured and you have to get them to safety. You cannot drop them under any circumstance and you cannot let them get injured in any way while you are carrying them. The bottom line is you have to use your power and skill to protect them and get them to safety." Naruto explained and he said it in such a way that the others knew he was experiencing some form of flashback.

He was remembering in vivid detail that day were he lost his patience and yelled at both Shoko and Evangeline. He was seven at the time and after two weeks of nonstop grueling training in her version of the Tree Walking Exercise Naruto was fed up and tired of it all especially after Shoko refused to tell him the real reason why she had him doing that version of the exercise. He apologized eventually after Shoko scolded him for his immature behavior and it was right after that Naruto told Shoko and Hinata who was also present how he met Evangeline and the tragedy that happened on his 4th birthday.

"She had you do all that?" Sakura asked in disbelieve. "Yes and because of that my chakra control is leagues ahead of anything I would have ever been able to do at this point if I didn't have her help. That lesson taught me many things and they have been things that I later went on to use. He used the full mechanics of Shoko's lesson when he saved that girl's life from Toiret the Ogre in Firebend Town 4 years ago.

"Now there are several variations and levels to this training that will push you past your breaking point but we don't have time for all of that so we'll just stick with the basic one. In order to complete this task you have to walk up and down the tree with the manikin for one hour straight." Naruto stated. Sakura had sweat coming down her forehead at this and Sasuke looked the tiniest bit hesitant until Naruto looked him straight in the eye and nodded at him in encouragement. Sasuke grunted as he started his task. Naruto looked over at Sakura who looked like she didn't believe in herself. "Sakura you will never be able to complete this task unless you try." Naruto said softly.

Slowly Sakura got into position and started to walk up the tree. She only got 5 paces before she fell off and hit her head because the weight of the manikin forced her to fall head first into the ground. Sasuke got just a few steps farther but he got blasted off the tree when he added too much chakra to his feet. The manikin hit the ground on its neck and everyone knew that if it was real then it would be dead right now.

"What are you going to do in the meantime?" Kakashi asked. He approved of this method and he knew exactly who taught it to him. Sasuke and Sakura heard his question as well and they were keeping an ear out for Naruto's response. "I'm going to go train some on my own. There are some things I need to do. However I need to speak to you in private for a moment." Naruto explained. Consenting both teacher and student went off to the other side of the clearing out of earshot from Sasuke and Sakura.

"I see Lady Shoko has been teaching you well Naruto." Kakashi commented as soon as they were out of earshot. "She has. I'm not even going to ask how you know her. I'm not surprised anymore." Naruto responded. "You could say I know her." Kakashi said in a softer voice than normal. Naruto picked up on it but otherwise didn't mention anything by it.

"Sensei there is a few things I need to tell you. One, we have Intel on Gatō's forces and we are heavily outmatched; I've also sent a messenger bird back to the Village. I'm asking the old man if he can send us reinforcements." Naruto explained. "It's that bad?" Kakashi asked with a serious look in his eyes. He could hear the grave tone in Naruto's voice and it set him on edge. "Yes it is but I have a plan that might help us." Naruto reassured.

"Kakashi sensei. Tell me everything you know about Zabuza Momochi." Naruto asked with a glint in his eyes.


To be Continued...


Author's Note (A/N): Hey guys I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Some very good character interactions like with Naruto/Tsunami, and Naruto/Team 7. Naruto has opened up to his team a little more and is trying to trust them more which is a big step for him. To prove it to them he shows his team what he dubs the True Tree Walking Exercise which he learned from Shoko years ago which takes place back in early Part 1. I also thought it would be cool to give Tazuna a bit of a better background with him being responsible for the many bridges that were featured in the manga/anime. I thought that it would make his character come more to life.

Now finally the question that remains is what is Naruto's plan and next move?


That's the end of chapter 14 I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it.

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Published: 10/21/15