The view from this high up was excellent. As her eyes scanned the treetops, the wind blowing in her dark hair, Akira could see the sunlight peeking through the leaves to reach the ground below, and the birds wondering what these strange creatures were doing up in their aerial domain. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to small compared to everything else, and it brought a smile to Akira's face. She and Sakura shared a cheer, which put Sasuke in a bad mood.
"Sakura! Akira!" Naruto called in surprise.
"Well, it looks like the female members of this team have the best chakra control!" Kakashi-sensei said in a teasing tone. "Well, done Akira, Sakura! Not only do you two understand chakra, but you can also control and maintain it as well."
Both girls smiled proudly at their sensei.
"Yeah! Way to go you two!" Naruto said happily from below. "I always knew you were awesome!"
"Whatever," Sasuke scoffed.
"Sasuke, be nice!" Akira said, throwing her shoe at her brother.
"Don't throw your shoes at me, woman!"
"Don't be an ass and I won't have to!" There was a moment of silence, and then Akira continued in a quieter voice, "Uh, do you think you could toss it back?"
"No."
"Sasuke!"
Akira slid off the branch she was sitting on and let herself fall to the ground, landing more or less gracefully on one foot. She smacked her brother upside the head on her way to grab her shoe.
"We spoke about someone becoming Hokage one day, didn't we?" Kakashi said. "Seems like Sakura has got the best chance of that, wouldn't you say? As for the great Uchiha clan, well maybe Sasuke the great Avenger isn't as great as his little sister, after all."
"Shut up, Sensei, you talk too much!" Sakura shouted, pointing accusingly at him.
"Hey, respect your sensei, Sakura!" Akira shouted back, hopping on one foot to put her shoe back on.
Sakura stuck her tongue out at her and Akira glared, nostrils flaring. It wasn't like they didn't get along, because when it came to it, they did, but everything seemed to be a competition with Sakura, even if it was just praise from Kakashi.
"All right! First I'll match Sasuke!" Naruto suddenly called. "Then I'm going all the way to the top! Believe it!"
Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other before running at their respective trees. Akira sighed and, when she finally got her shoe on, got into position once again.
"You're practising more?" Sakura asked, still up in her tree.
"Well, yeah. What if it was just a fluke?" Akira said. "Besides, just because I did it once, doesn't mean I can't improve more. Maybe I'll aim to jog up, or walk up—training doesn't stop after the first successful attempt, Sakura."
Akira launched herself at the tree again and, like last time, made it up in one go. She marked the tree with Kakashi's kunai and let herself fall back down onto the ground. After another few moments, Akira positioned herself to go back up and ran up the tree once again. Sakura followed Akira with a sigh as she dropped to the ground, more or less ready to practice some more. But if Akira was doing it, then so would she.
On Akira's fourth run up, she jumped and hung onto a tree branch rather than letting herself fall. She twisted around and stared at Kakashi, who still hadn't gone back to sit down.
"Shouldn't you, I don't know, sit or something, Sensei? I mean, you are supposed to be resting, not hanging upside down."
"I'm fine, don't worry," Kakashi said.
"Yeah, well, I'm worrying. Sit down."
With a chuckle, Kakashi swung around and sat down on the branch he'd been hanging by. Satisfied, Akira dropped to the ground again and resumed her training. Every time she went up, she tried to go a little slower, aiming to walk up the tree as Kakashi did earlier. But after hours of training, all Akira managed was a light jog. As she came down for what seemed like the hundredth time, Akira groaned and let herself fall onto her back for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of soft grass on her skin.
"I don't understand how you have so much energy," Sakura said, coming to sit beside her. "I got it on the first try, but I've been taking way more breaks than any of you guys."
"Don't worry about it, Sakura," Akira said. "I think the reason why Naruto and Sasuke are having so much trouble is the same reason why I'm still going strong."
"Really? What do you think it is?"
"Too much chakra."
"How can having too much chakra be a problem?"
"Well, it's not, really," Akira sighed. "But, take Naruto, for example. He's a loose cannon, can't concentrate to save his life, and combine that with the fact he's got too much chakra, well, that makes it a pain to control it. Sasuke, on the other hand, just always overdoes it. He can't comprehend that self-control is better than just adding more power, so he gets angry when he fails, and adds more power. It's a vicious circle, really."
"What about you, then?"
"I'm not as angry as he is," Akira said with a chuckle.
Sakura frowned and stared at Akira for a moment, wondering why there was a wistful smile on Akira's face. Sasuke had spoken of a man he wanted to destroy, a man that, quite evidently, had changed both his and Akira's lives. But then, why did Akira's eyes hold nothing close to anger?
"Hey, hey, hey—Akira, Sakura!"
Startled, Akira and Sakura turned toward Naruto. There was a big lump on his head, where he'd fallen several times, and he kept looking back towards Sasuke to make sure he wasn't paying attention.
"You guys are good at this—how about some advice?" he said. "But please don't tell Sasuke I asked! Please, please!"
"Calm down, Naruto," Akira laughed.
Naruto's enthusiasm brought a smile to Akira's face, and both girls gladly shared their tips with him. Kakashi watched from up high, a little proud of himself, a bit proud of Naruto, a bit proud of the girls; they were beginning to catch on to the idea of working together, and Kakashi knew that they could only get stronger from there.
Guarding Tazuna wasn't nearly as fun or as challenging as the tree-climbing training, but if Kakashi-sensei said that Akira and Sakura had to spend the rest of the morning keeping an eye on him, then that's what they'd do. And while it was nice to watch the men banter and work, there were no trees to provide shade, and the breeze was far from strong enough to keep the girls cool. All they could do was sit and watch Tazuna and the workers, sweat building up on their foreheads without having to work for it. Sakura was even so bored that her eyelids kept closing and yawned more than once. Akira couldn't help but laugh.
"You always this lazy?" Tazuna asked the girls. "Where's that weird blond kid, and the one with the attitude?"
"They're training—climbing trees without their hands," Akira said.
"To tough for you?"
"No, in fact, we're the best!" Sakura boasted. "That's why Kakashi-sensei asked us to guard you."
"You're joking?"
Tazuna laughed at his own joke and left both girls fuming. If they had to sit here another hour and listen to this nonsense, Akira was going to let Sakura rip the man's head off.
"Hey, Tazuna? I need to talk to you," a worker said.
"Hm, what about?"
"Well, the thing is, I've been thinking a lot about the bridge. And I decided that I'd pushed my luck far enough—I want out."
"You're going to quit on me just like that!? You're kidding!"
Akira and Sakura shared a look. They weren't surprised by the worker's statement, but for a moment, they felt terrible for the man who'd just laughed at them.
"You know, I stayed on because of our friendship," the man said. "But I'm putting my life on the line every day I stay here—Gato and his thugs will show up eventually. When they do, they'll kill you, and the bridge won't get finished anyway! It's a lost cause, Tazuna; why don't we stop while we can get out of this alive."
"No chance."
Akira and Sakura were surprised, to say the least. Since the beginning, Tazuna had appeared to be a lazy drunk, not someone determined like this.
"This is our bridge. Our island is poor, and it will stay that way until this bridge connects us to the mainland! Commerce, trade and hope—that's what we're building here!"
"There's not going to be much hope if we're all dead."
"It's already noon. Let's break for lunch," Tazuna said, ignoring the man's comment. "Oh, and Giichi—don't bother coming back."
The rest of the afternoon was spent in tense silence. None of the workers or Sakura and Akira dared to bring up the subject with Tazuna or asked whether this Giichi fellow was ever going to come back to work. Instead, the workers kept their heads down, and Sakura and Akira took turns walking around the bridge to make sure nothing suspicious was going on. A few times, Akira caught herself getting distracted by the ocean, eyes closed and being lulled by the sounds of crashing waves. Some of her rounds were longer than Sakura's, on purpose, to be able to gaze out at the open waters for a short while, hoping, futilely, that the salty sea air would wash away all the concerns Akira had about this mission.
In the evening, when the sun was going down and the beautiful hues of lavender, rose and orange crept over the day's bright blue sky, Tazuna led the girls down the main street on his way to buy ingredients for dinner. Akira's eyes weren't focused on the kaleidoscope of colours above, however. Instead, Akira's dark eyes gazed over the most impoverished streets she'd ever seen in her life. With her clean clothes and simple jewellery, Akira felt rich and out of place. Many beggars roamed around, thin and sickly, thieves attempting to pickpocket, and young children huddling together for safety.
To see all this at once broke Akira's heart into pieces, and to think that a single man was responsible for this angered her beyond belief. Even for those who had some money, like Tazuna, life was getting increasingly hard. The market he led Akira and Sakura to was barer than bare. There were only a few vegetables here and there, and there was no meat or dairy in sight. Suddenly, the hunger rumbling in the girl's stomach seemed far and unimportant. It was only the bridge that mattered—and it was going to get built no matter what.