Chapter 11

Revelations: Training for the Next Battle

The art of transferring ones chakra to another person was by no means a new concept in the shinobi world. Many shinobi throughout the Five Great Nations were capable of using the Chakra Transfer Technique; some even had special ways to transfer their chakra to multiple people at once. But even though it wasn't a new idea, attempting to learn even a basic variation of it within a few hours was proving to be incredibly difficult for Amari.

Theory and practice, always such different results, she thought as she continued to read over her scroll.

In a different situation where she wasn't exhausted of chakra, she would've tried out her idea of using Shadow Clones to help decrease the total amount of time to learn the jutsu. Unfortunately for Amari, and by extension her unconscious sensei, a few hours still wasn't enough time for her chakra to replenish itself to a safe amount after such a hard fight.

Kakashi was more or less stable, though that observation was coming from someone who knew nothing of being a medic-nin. She had checked his pulse, though, to make sure he was okay and bandaged up his hand in the meantime while waiting for him to wake up. At a guess, his lack of chakra was probably one of the causes for his continued unconsciousness. The other cause was without a doubt due to the strain placed on his body from overusing the Sharingan against Zabuza.

With nothing else to do, and with a growing fear in her heart over the status of their enemy, Amari decided she would try to transfer chakra over to him so he could at the very least be awake. Granted, the possibility of him waking up because of chakra alone was incredibly slim, but a slim chance was better than no chance at all in her eyes.

Just like my plan to release Sensei from Zabuza's prison.

Thinking of Zabuza made her frown in worry. While the others felt more or less triumphant that the rogue ninja was gone, Amari held onto a different silent opinion. So many things seemed and felt downright wrong or too close to being mere coincidence—something she didn't believe in when it came to shinobi life—but for the moment she was trying not to dwell on it.

Even if Zabuza did survive, the state he was left in meant they wouldn't have to worry about him for approximately the same amount of time it would take Kakashi to come around, or at least that was her optimistic diagnosis of their situation. Her pessimistic diagnosis was, quite frankly, depressing.

Zabuza will want revenge if he survived; he seems like the type to hold a grudge. That should keep the boy from coming at us on his own, if we're lucky. He could kill us all with ease right now, but if he is helping Zabuza then he'll have to take the senbons out of his neck and bring him back to their hideout. That's what I'd do to keep him safe on the chance the enemy shinobi were suspicious of a ruse.

Amari shook off the thought pattern completely to refocus back on trying to help her sensei recover. There was still a chance the boy was a legitimate hunter-nin and she was being overly paranoid. A slim chance, her inner pessimist muttered unhelpfully.

For now she needed to remain focused on what was right in front of her rather than a slim possibility lingering beyond her reach.

If I had studied Medical Ninjutsu, I might be more help in this field. Problem is I have no aspirations to become a medic-nin. At all. I only started studying this technique out of necessity.

Amari blew a strand of hair out of her face then pursed her lips. Even as a supplementary technique this technique was proving itself to be a challenging foe. Honestly Amari didn't even remember packing this scroll when she packed up for the mission. She had grabbed a few pieces of studying material, but this? She didn't even know she had a scroll on transferring chakra…which must mean mom packed it for me.

Thinking back on it, it was highly possible her mother snuck the extra scroll in when she helped her pack. Amari had been so caught up in her worry over Tazuna lying to them about the danger of the mission that Kurenai probably could have placed bricks in her pack without her noticing it immediately. I don't know where she'd even find bricks, but I hope she never does place them in my pack. That'd be such a pain.

Thankfully she only put a scroll in, likely planting it for her daughter to find on the chance Kakashi did overuse his Sharingan. I'll have to thank her when we get home.

Now she just had to learn it and then it would really be helpful.

The problem was the information within was pretty lackluster. By no means was it an intriguing novel that hooked her along each word, but the Nara continued to examine the 3D diagrams, picking apart how the depictions explained the transferring process and going back to the text for further information. One of the many problems she was having was her own lack of chakra. Even if she were to figure out the transferring process, she didn't have enough to make a difference.

To overcome this problem she would have to learn not only how to transfer her own chakra, but receive it—or steal it—from others and make it her own. With that solution came what some might call a minor hiccup, however.

This scroll doesn't give me all the information I need to learn how to do it.

Okay, maybe it was more than a minor hiccup. It'd be more accurate to say it was a derailing hiccup preventing her from actually doing anything helpful.

Amari lowered her head to look at her bedridden sensei, her frustration at her inability to be of any help growing significantly. I don't know what to do! I need help or divine intervention or just a damn epiphany.

None came in her frustration.

She removed her bandana from her forehead and crossed her legs under her as she released a defeated sigh. Kakashi-sensei put himself in this state to protect us…and I can't even do anything to help him. No amount of tactics or physical strength could help her here. Everything she trained for was useless in this situation, not even her intelligence and ability to soak up text information was of any use.

Amari clenched her purple bandana tightly and lowered her eyes to the piece of cloth in her frustration. When she happened upon the scroll in her search for any techniques that might help she had given the others hope by telling them she could help, but now she was going to have to tell them she couldn't do it. That she was incapable of learning this technique and wouldn't be able to help bring Kakashi out of his unconscious state.

This time she couldn't be the savior.

"You're not giving up are you? That's not like you at all, Haya."

Amari's eyes widened in shock and her entire body froze in place as if put under a Paralysis Jutsu by the voice invading her thoughts. She…she knew that voice…yet she didn't know who it belonged to or why she suddenly wanted to cry. How could a voice be so foreign and familiar at the same time? And why did it make her heart ache something terrible?

"Haya, you're just overthinking this. Sometimes when you're nose deep in those books studying you forget to take a step back for a moment and take a breath. You may surprise yourself."

No one was in the room except Amari and her unconscious sensei, but she felt someone poke her forehead.

"Now take a step back and breathe for a moment. You'll get this down in no time at all. After all, you're an Uchiha and my little cousin. You'll figure it out."

There were no images to go along with the memory, all of it was auditory…But even then it was still immensely painful. Haya…that was my name, wasn't it? Before the orphanage. Amari took a deep breath to stop herself from hyperventilating and having an emotional breakdown. Tears pricked at her eyes and her breathing was becoming unsteady. And that voice was my cousin. My older cousin.

The kunoichi slapped her hand to her mouth to muffle a choked noise that was close to becoming a full on sob. Breathe, damn it! Breathe! She couldn't have a breakdown here and now. Kakashi needed her, her team needed her and it'd be mortifying to fall into sobs for a reason no one would be able to understand because she couldn't explain it.

How did she explain the sudden reawakening of a memory of someone she couldn't fully remember bringing her tears? How could she explain the tearing feeling ripping her heart apart? How could she explain how much she wished her cousin was still here to comfort her even though she couldn't remember his face or his name?

Several minutes and deep breaths later she was back in control of her emotional state…Sort of. The tearing feeling was still there, but at least tears weren't on the verge of spilling over anymore. Instead of questioning the source of the memory any further, she obediently followed the past guidance of her fallen cousin and mentally took a step back from her studying. Amari freed her mind of all the stress, of all her fears, of the pain now reverberating in her chest and closed her eyes as she let her breathing even out.

Take a step back. Breathe. Let your mind be free of the clutter and piece together the puzzle like one of those games Asuma-sensei gives you now and then.

Slowly, she reimagined the diagrams and words until she was seeing them as the wooden puzzle pieces. As she removed certain pieces, turned them and put them elsewhere in her mind, her facial features reacted to her mental actions. Sometimes it would pull into deep thought, other times in mild annoyance as she hit another roadblock, a smirk now and then as pieces began to fit together.

Eventually the entire puzzle fell into place and her eyes snapped open.

I understand!

"Naruto! I need you in here now!" Amari shouted for her teammate.

Three sets of feet sprinting on the wooden floor echoed from outside of the room as the dōjutsu wielder tied her bandana back around her forehead to leave both her eyes visible. Thank you, Cousin…I…I don't remember anything about you, but I…I missed hearing your voice.

Some dormant part of her heart knew he missed her too.

"We're here Amari! What's going on?" Naruto asked from behind her, skidding to a stop in the doorway.

"Is Kakashi okay?" Sasuke asked, faint worry in his voice.

"Still the same as before, but I finally figured out how to transfer my chakra," she said, waving the trio in without letting her sensei out of her sights. There were three sighs of relief from behind her. "Uh…sorry for worrying you," she added sheepishly.

There was also something else she needed them for besides helping their sensei…Although sooner than she intended, it was time to reveal to them her left eye. With all of the hints dropped by her during the fight with Zabuza as well as the blatant mentions of it, the best choice of action here was coming clean about it. She couldn't risk them growing too suspicious of her to the point of doubt when they possibly had a tougher fight coming.

Her Sharingan, however, would remain secret. That was a reveal she couldn't risk at a time like this, even after Kakashi revealed his to the others.

"Hold on a moment." They stopped at the sound of her voice. "Before you guys come closer, I want you to know that it isn't because of you specifically that I kept my eye a secret. The secret was forged from a promise I made to my friend who died defending me before Kakashi-sensei found me in that forest…so don't freak out when you see it."

A tension swept into the room sourced from Sasuke and Sakura. From feel alone it seemed they were under the impression she was going to be horribly disfigured under her bandana. Naruto, on the other hand, had no such reservations and moved to sit next to her immediately. Then Naruto proved to her once again why she considered him like a brother in everything but blood.

"It's no big deal you hid it, Amari. Definitely since it's kept you safe from power seekers. Besides, why would any of us freak out? You look a lot cuter without that bandana covering your eye."

As her blush set in from the unnecessary compliment, Sakura sat down on her right side while Sasuke sat across from her on the other side of Kakashi. Silence fell across the room, an uncomfortable silence for Amari. Her two teammates were openly staring at her like she grew a new appendage, though she supposed that wasn't too far from the truth, but why weren't they saying anything?

Why are they just staring?

Trying, and failing, to hide how uncomfortable she was, Amari stretched out her back and flicked her eyes in pretty much every direction she could. "Um…can you please at least say something instead of staring?"

"Your eye looks like Hinata's," Sasuke stated as a question.

Amari nodded, internally relieved to have something to work off other than awkward staring. "I will explain everything I can to you three later. Parts of it are…still hard for me to talk about." Ryu's death and her weakness being the cause of it were the main parts to talk about, yet they were also the hardest for her to get through. It wasn't foolish pride that kept her from admitting how weak she was, but the pain of knowing had she just been stronger emotionally and physically that she could have changed the final outcome.

Naruto's gentle hand rested on her shoulder. "Hey, you don't have to force yourself to talk about anything you aren't comfortable with, Amari."

She gave an appreciative nod for his understanding, but she still planned on trying to explain everything. Sakura and Sasuke were her teammates. Now that the truth was out, they deserved to know as much as she could handle talking about. "Once I get enough chakra to use it without straining myself, it will change a little."

"Change?" Naruto asked after he removed his hand from her shoulder.

He must not have seen it when I fought Mizuki. So long as that meant he couldn't remember her Sharingan as well then everything would be fine.

"Sounds similar to the Sharingan," Sasuke noted thoughtfully.

"It's another dōjutsu. I'm going to need all three of you to do this, though. How would you say your chakra reserves are right now?"

"I'm good to go with whatever you need, Amari!" Naruto boasted with a proud smile.

"I'm okay as well," Sakura said.

Sasuke nodded in confirmation of his own being well off. They say they're fine, but once I have enough to activate my Byakugan without putting more strain on my low chakra reserves I will be able to tell better who I can take more from and who I can't.

"I'm going to do this one at a time so I don't overwhelm myself and mess it up. If something looks off, stop me through any means. Knock me out, release the jutsu, put me in a genjutsu. I don't care how, just do it."

"You've got this, Amari. There's nothing to worry about."

"No Naruto, she's right," Sasuke said slowly. Naruto looked over to him with a slightly perturbed look and a small growl. While his confidence in her abilities was motivating, Sasuke seemed to understand the dangers far better than their knuckleheaded teammate. "The technique is allowing her to effectively steal our chakra. If she accidently drained us of all our chakra, we could end up like Kakashi. Or worse."

Amari dipped her head in a small nod of agreement. Worse was a nice way of putting she could accidently kill them by trying to help their sensei.

"You'll be okay, Amari. Just don't push yourself," Sakura comforted.

"Naruto you're first. If you feel like I'm taking too much, tell me. I won't be able to see your chakra reserves until I get a little more chakra myself." He nodded but she knew him too well to take that as a real answer. "No tough guy antics, Naruto. This is life or death."

Amari appreciated his desire to do his best to help, but this technique was going to be dangerous for her to even attempt. Having no experience performing it and doing it in an environment where her fellow green Genin were her supervisors was a dangerous concoction for trouble.

No pressure, right?

"You sure you should be trying this?" Tazuna asked from the doorway. The group looked over their shoulders to see the old bridge builder watching them intently, one hand resting on the doorframe. He had been a lot nicer over the last few hours compared to how he had been when they first met, though it could be argued that was because they saved his life and he believed the danger to be over.

The Shadow user gave a faint nod as an answer to his question. The dangers of using this technique without any previous training or without real supervision were worrisome, yet to her the risks were necessary because of how much they relied on Kakashi. They needed Kakashi to be ready to fight at the same time Zabuza would be ready, if he was still in fact alive. Without his skills they'd be screwed if Zabuza or that boy turned up again.

Not to mention it had probably been a long time since he pushed himself this far. I'd bet his chakra coils are screaming a lot of unpleasant things at him right now. It'd be funny if she was one hundred percent certain their troubles were over. But she wasn't and that made his current situation far more frightening than funny.

"Yes. It's the only way I can ensure our sensei's safety. He will still need to recover on his own, but if I can get him at least coherent, I'll be happy."

"Aside from the risk of draining your friend's chakra, why is it so risky for you to do it?"

Ah, right to the core of the issue. She couldn't be surprised considering how straight forward he had been since they met. Still, admitting out loud the dangers wasn't going to do anything for her confidence in her ability to perform the technique.

"…I've never performed this technique in my life and I've only studied it since we've gotten back. Using a technique like this with such inexperience can be dangerous. I've pushed my limits many times, but that was under supervision by ninja like our sensei who could stop me from doing any permanent damage to myself. If I had adequate chakra I wouldn't even include my team in this."

She wouldn't have even called them in here if she was at full strength. Risking her own life was a personal choice; risking her friends without giving them much say was hard for her. "I'm risking their lives more than my own with this…If I somehow killed them…" Amari trailed off and lowered her eyes to the floor.

"Don't sell yourself short, Haya. You have to trust your gut, and if your gut is telling you that you can do it, then you can do it," her cousin's voice came to her again.

That's a great sentiment Cousin, but this isn't something to just go with my gut feeling on. How do I know if this gut feeling is right?

Something poked her forehead again, forcing her to shut her eyes to stave off the tears that started to form from the feelings his voice and the action were giving her.

"You're selling yourself short again, Haya. Your gut feeling hasn't led you down a wrong path yet."

Two separate hands rested on her shoulders a second after she actually felt an invisible hand rest on her shoulder.

"Just keep following it. You'll be okay."

Amari opened her eyes to see Sakura and Naruto giving her smiles of confidence. She looked across to Sasuke who nodded to her with a smile of trust. "You can do this, Amari. I know you can."

"Naruto's right. We believe in you, Amari. You won't mess this up," Sakura said confidently.

"And if you doubt your gut, listen to those who do believe in you. You know I wouldn't lie to you, Haya."

Again she had to squeeze her eyes shut to fight off the overwhelming feelings building in her heart. I know you wouldn't, Cousin.

With her confidence returning, she nodded to her teammates in thanks for their belief in her abilities. I won't let them down. I won't let Sensei down.

"Okay, I'm ready." She turned to Naruto in her crossed legged position. "The second you feel something wrong you'll tell me?" He nodded again. Amari brought up her right hand and formed the Tiger seal as a focusing point while she put her left hand out for Naruto to put his in. He gripped her hand and she closed her eyes to focus once more.

Sakura watched Amari and Naruto closely as nothing seemed to happen between the two. Did it work? This was their one chance at getting Kakashi awake and in a better condition than he was. Come on Amari. You can do this. Another few beats of silence passed, and then a blue hue formed around the pair's hands, signaling the success of the technique and bringing a smile to Sakura's face.

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration to likely feel out what was going on within his own chakra network as their blue-haired teammate began absorbing his chakra. Only a handful of seconds passed before the kunoichi suddenly hummed in approval.

She must have just gotten enough chakra to allow her to use her dōjutsu.

The next minute was entirely unremarkable. Naruto and Amari remained utterly still without sparing words to one another as Sasuke and Sakura watched on, watching for any sort of danger. At the end of the minute Amari removed her hand and disengaged the jutsu.

"You should still be okay on chakra. Enough to climb a few trees with no hands if I am judging correctly."

"Are you sure? I think I can…" The boy snapped his mouth shut and began to rub the back of his head as a nervous smile pulled onto his lips. "Life or death, I understand."

Amari nodded then turned to Sakura next. When she saw her left eye, Sakura had to suppress a shocked gasp. Veins were bulging around her temple and upper cheek leading to and from the eye while the originally solid lavender eye was now far more intense in appearance. The pupil was clearly visible, and with the scar going through her eyebrow, eyelid and cheek she no longer appeared like the docile girl from the Academy.

She looks battle-hardened…scarred on the inside and out. Scars she had kept hidden underneath a mask that she was letting them see a little through now. The shy, reserved girl from the Academy was still Amari, but that girl wasn't the whole package. She was a fragment, a tiny portion of a larger picture Sakura had only seen glimpses of since their team formed. Seeing it again here revealed to her how little she truly did know about Amari as a person.

Despite the intense look, though, Sakura could still see her caring teammate underneath it. "Sakura, are you ready?" she asked.

The kunoichi nodded and offered her hand to her. Amari held it gently and brought her right hand up into the Tiger seal. Once again a few moments of nothing passed before a blue hue formed around their hands. Immediately Sakura began to feel her chakra slowly seep away and towards her hand, where it vanished permanently. The feeling was definitely strange, but she trusted her teammate in what she was doing.

Even though part of her still wanted to become strong enough to beat Amari, Sakura slowly found herself growing out of wanting to beat Amari to prove to her that she was strong. That part was being replaced by the desire to become stronger for the same reasons her fellow kunoichi had.

To protect her team and those precious to her.

She had seen and felt firsthand the determination Amari had and that fiery will she kept hidden underneath the layers of quiet shyness back home. Her ability to use her acquired knowledge in the field was something worth striving for.

Back at the Academy when she had claimed she was going to create one hundred thousand Shadow Clones, everyone had laughed at the ridiculous idea, Sakura included. A girl who was too shy to talk in front of the class and rarely showed any of her skills around others creating one hundred thousand real clones?

The idea had been and still was laughable, but even then Sakura noticed something strange. Naruto, Amari's only friend outside of Shikamaru, grew determined to prove that he could beat her and do more. They formed a friendly rivalry and began pushing each other to reach for the impossible without a care for what anyone else thought about them.

One day she found Amari at the training field on her hands and knees panting with no signs of success around her. Sakura initially found it humorous to see her failing after Iruka constantly praised her as one of the best in their class. Look at her now, she had sneered, she can't create a single clone let alone stand on her own two feet.

Much to her surprise Amari stood right back up and created five shadow clones. They almost instantaneously dispelled, and with the last of her energy used up she fell forward into her mother's arms.

Sakura couldn't help but be stunned at Amari's persistence and unwavering will to not stop until she succeeded. Secretly, Sakura envied her; a bitter jealousy created because Amari never stopped rising higher and higher in intelligence and skill.

Where she was proud of a being able to do a Clone Jutsu or Transformation Jutsu, Amari was already trying to climb trees without her hands. When she boasted about her accomplishments and scores on tests, Amari never spoke a word of hers or settled even when she did succeed. When Amari was always reaching for a new goal or a new challenge, Sakura was satisfied with being an average shinobi.

Or…she had been until Amari came around and made her realize how inferior she really was. Now what she wanted most was to be able to stand on her own without the boys or Amari protecting her. She wanted to be able to use all the knowledge she gained through her studies in the field instead of freezing up like a frightened deer.

Ever since Amari's first lecture to their team she had taken up training a lot more seriously, but nothing seemed to be helping her. Why couldn't she see any of the results happening when it seemed like Amari grew every day back in the Academy? Sakura had almost given up on her new training, but then she remembered seeing her fellow kunoichi stand back up even in her exhausted state and her passionate words.

"I have worked day in and day out to change who I am. I have trained to the point I couldn't walk on my own all to catch up and see some sort of value in my abilities and myself. I won't deny I've had help along the way. People close to me have given me guidance, have helped me understand the complexities of jutsu I never would have understood without their help. And those same people helped to pick me up off the ground when all I wanted to do was cry and give up because I was hurting inside. And because of them I kept fighting to become stronger, no matter how much it hurt. So don't you dare insinuate I haven't worked hard enough to earn my strength!"

I…want to change who I am too. I want to…I want to see the same value in my abilities and myself that she strived for, she had thought in her moment of defeat. I won't lose to Amari. If she can push through her exhaustion to become stronger then so can I. Even if it hurt, even if it took some time to catch up, she'd keep pushing until she could walk side by side with her teammates. There hadn't been enough time to see anything worthy of noting before this mission, but she had seen small improvements and that was incentive enough to continue to push forward.

Now after experiencing a real battle for the first time and seeing Amari not back down in the slightest against an enemy far greater in skill then her, Sakura found something more. Not only did she respect Amari more as a rival, but she found in herself a will to continue to push past her limits.

This did not mean that in their downtime she was going to be dishing out random challenges. Times like these she could be more amicable with her teammate. There was no point in causing bad blood between them when they were going to be on the same team for a long time. I doubt Amari would fall into it anyways. She brushed off Ino's threats with a smile and told her she hoped she did get stronger regardless of her intentions.

Maybe instead of being so petty and too proud she could actually try to get to know her teammate and maybe ask for some advice…Maybe even some help training.

Amari kept her left eye open but her right eye closed as the seconds ticked by. The eye itself appeared to be looking straight into her very soul as it stared steadily at her. Honestly, this dōjutsu seemed even more intense than their sensei's had; yet even though both were somewhat strange and terrifying to be on the receiving end of, there was comfort in both of their eyes when they looked at their team.

Even though Sensei was focused on Zabuza, I could still see his care for us. He told us that he wouldn't let anyone harm us and his eye reflected that. In Amari's eye I can see her concentration and her protectiveness over me. I can see her worry of hurting me on accident being fought back by an unspoken promise to herself to never harm her friends.

There was comfort behind the eye, a hope that even though this was dangerous that there was still a trust between them. That Sakura understood she would never intentionally hurt her. The eye may have been staring into her soul, but it was filling her with comfort that she never thought she would feel by looking at Amari.

Before she knew it the blue hue faded and Amari took her hand away. "You will be okay. Sasuke?"

Sasuke stood up and walked to where Naruto had been sitting with the blond moving out of courtesy for the technique. "How is your chakra?" the boy asked.

"Nowhere near full, but with yours it should be enough to get sensei awake and leave me with enough to at least walk on my own," she answered as he sat in front of her.

"Take as much as you need then."

"Sasuke, I told Naruto this in front of you and I will tell you now face to face. Drop the tough guy crap. I'm not an expert of this technique. I'm being as careful as I can and the chakra I take from you will be enough and leave you still in good shape." Sasuke seemed to back down from her stare. "I will not threaten the lives of my friends when what I am doing will work."

He sighed in defeat and nodded, putting his hand out for her to take.

Sakura examined the back of her teammate as her thoughts trailed back to their days in the Academy and how different she seemed then compared to now.

At the Academy she was always timid when attention was brought to her or when people would talk to her, but out here she doesn't back down at all. Amari still has her shy tendencies out of battle, but when it came to fighting Zabuza and taking care of us she doesn't allow herself to back down.

Not even for a moment.

Sakura could still see the green chakra form around her teammate in their battle and feel Amari's protectiveness all around her like she was being wrapped in a warm blanket. When she had taunted Zabuza all those times, I thought she was just trying to be cool or impress Kakashi-sensei, but now I see she was drawing the attention from us and Mr. Tazuna to herself. She was trying to keep Zabuza from picking any of us as his target, even risked having to tell her secret about her eye to make sure we wouldn't be attacked.

After Naruto got his headband back I felt her determination and it made me believe in her. I never thought I would accuse Amari of having a strong will, but her strength goes beyond physical prowess. Her will is so strong and her goal and want to protect us with her own life only serves to make her stronger.

Sakura smiled to herself. As long as Amari never backed down, she couldn't allow herself to either.

"Okay, that's enough," Amari said suddenly.

"Are you sure…" Sasuke leaned backwards away from his teammate with surprise in his eyes. "Okay, no need to stare like that."

Amari turned to Kakashi next as Sasuke stood up and moved away from her working area. Okay, time to transfer my chakra to Kakashi-sensei.

"How long do you think the transferring process will take?" Sakura asked.

"I honestly have no idea. Transferring my chakra into his chakra network will probably take longer since I have to be more aware of my own chakra than his." Internally she was going to be nervous the entire time. One accident of transferring too much chakra and she'd either end up out cold or dead. Her nervousness would make her hesitate if she even felt like her chakra was leaving her body too fast.

"In the meantime the three of us should continue watching the perimeter and the bridge builder," Sasuke stated.

"Shouldn't someone watch after Amari to make sure nothing bad happens to her?" Sakura asked.

A thoughtful silence fell between her three teammates regarding that very valid point. Amari ignored them in favor of focusing inwardly on her chakra. They didn't need her to figure out the best course of action here.

"Sakura, stay here and watch after Amari," Sasuke said. "Read over the scroll before she begins. Maybe the knowledge within will help you to see if anything is going wrong."

Sakura nodded beside her then picked up the scroll. "Right."

"Naruto, take first watch over the perimeter. If anything seems out of the ordinary then get inside right away. We all need to be aware of an impending attack so we can counter it accordingly," Sasuke said.

"That's not needed," Amari intervened in his orders. There were sounds of confusion from her teammates, though that was to be expected since they didn't know the full capabilities of her eye yet. "My eye allows me to see three hundred and sixty degrees for fifty meters in every direction. If there is someone coming, I'll know long before Naruto does."

However, my eye is already sore and the longer I maintain it, the worse my headache is going to get and the blurrier my vision will be. Her head was already pounding and the vision in her eye was no longer clear as glass. Fog was beginning to form within it, and it would only get progressively worse over time. I just have to hope my Byakugan will last long enough here.

"Whoa. That's so cool Amari!" Naruto beamed.

"In that case we'll keep watch on the bridge builder until Kakashi is up," Sasuke corrected.

Naruto jumped to his feet with a smile pulling onto his face. "Right! Good luck Amari!"

He left the room at a run with Sasuke following behind quietly muttering something about the boy being a loser. Amari didn't attempt to listen any longer. She was falling into her meditative focus where her breathing evened out, her anxieties dispersed on the coastal winds and the chakra running through her body became the sole focus point of her mind.

Just like when she took the chakra from her teammates, she was going to have to be extra careful with transferring her chakra to Kakashi. If she didn't do it in small increments then she would be risking her life. This is how I prefer it. At least I'll only lose my life if the worst happened…not that I want it to happen.

Dying now would be a drag.

"Okay Amari, whenever you're ready," Sakura said.

Amari inhaled a deep breath through her nose then exhaled it out of her mouth. It's time. She lifted her right hand up into Tiger and rested her left on Kakashi's stomach. Please work. Focusing inwardly, she pushed her chakra towards the palm of her left hand and rather than attempting to absorb chakra from Kakashi, she focused on connecting her chakra network to his to begin the transfer.

When the "connection" was made, she began filtering her chakra into his network. The action created a green hue around her hand initially, but then the green hue steadily climbed up her left arm until she was covered in a green cloak similar to the one she created in battle. The difference here, however, was it was missing the black tips and the chakra was all flowing like an electrical circuit or a wave towards her left palm.

Mere moments passed before she could feel the slow and steady drain of her chakra leaving her. In her Byakugan she could see the green flow entering into Kakashi's network and revitalizing it faster than his body was doing naturally.

Come on Kakashi-sensei, wake up.

A minute passed before the drain became significant enough to warrant beads of sweat forming on her brow and a strained expression. I'm…nearing my limit. Her training with meditation was the only thing keeping her currently calm breathing from becoming sharper and without a calm cadence.

By her mental estimations before performing the technique, the chakra she had given him should have been suitable for his body to no longer be strained by the lack of chakra. Yet nothing she could see on him showed a chance in his condition. Come on…I just need…to give him a little more.

Within his chakra network she saw another foreign chakra begin to enter. That could only mean…

Amari glanced over to her fellow kunoichi to see her right hand on his chest and a blue hue surrounding her hand as she transferred over her chakra. Sakura…You managed to learn how to do it faster than I did. Had she not been so focused, she might have smirked. But it was also evident by the strain on Sakura's face that she was struggling to keep the technique active.

"Sakura, don't hurt yourself. Please." Her pleading voice earned her a faint nod and the retraction of her teammate's hand. Impressed as she was, Amari couldn't bear to see her teammate hurting herself in an attempt to help. "You did very well on your first try after a quick read. All you need is a bit more focus and more time to study and you'll have it."

"Thank you, Amari," Sakura responded.

"If you would like, I could spar with you when we get back to the village to help you improve your taijutsu," Amari offered, using the conversation as a means to distract her from the strain of the technique.

"Huh? Seriously?" Amari nodded as she maintained focus. "Oh…Um, sure. I mean, if you're not busy training with your mom or anything."

Amari let a light and slightly pained laugh escape her. As much as she hated to admit it, her time training with her mom was quickly coming to an end. Between their missions and the missions Kurenai had to lead, they wouldn't be able to see each other as often as they used to. Or, that was her theory anyway. She didn't want it to end up that way, but if it did then that meant she would just have to train extra hard on her own and with her team.

That time would be perfect, and with a little work of her Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu she would be able to have private time with Sakura to help her improve. Out of all of them, Sakura was the furthest behind in physical strength and fighting instinct. The best way to get her to catch up to them was to put her through a rigorous training regimen where she wouldn't have to worry about being judged by Sasuke, Naruto or Kakashi, if that was her fear.

"If anything I could create two clones and transform one into you to spar with the boys during our normal training days while you and I train. They'd be none the wiser and by the time they did figure out the switch, they'd be exhausted."

A gloved hand suddenly snatched Amari's wrist and severed the chakra connection by twisting her hand off of Kakashi's stomach. Her chakra cloak disappeared immediately at the sudden breakage of focus and connection.

"What did I tell you about using a technique you've never used before, Amari?" Kakashi scolded tiredly.

To only do it under proper supervision, her mind recited. But he wasn't going to get away from her unscathed after worrying them all. No way. "And what did I tell you before you fought Zabuza?" she fired back with narrowed eyes.

Her sensei exhaled a tired sigh and released her wrist. "Be careful, Sensei," he repeated her exact words.

Amari smirked and hummed victoriously at him then turned her eyes to Sakura. "Want to go get the boys for us?" She nodded and left, giving Amari the brief alone time she hoped for with Kakashi. When she turned back to him she saw his eye barely creaked open as he stared up at the ceiling. "Too much Sharingan?"

"Yeah. How long has it been?" he asked.

"About three or four hours. I lost track in my studies." Her sensei dipped his chin down slightly in what she assumed was meant to be a nod. Amari wiped away the few beads of sweat that had formed then offered her sensei an apologetic look. "Sorry I can't give more chakra. I only took the amount from the others I thought would get you to wake up. If I used it any longer I doubt I'd have the energy to walk. Though by my estimation, neither of us will be fighting anytime soon."

Had he the energy, Amari bet Kakashi would have sat up to talk. Instead he lazily rolled his head on the pillow to look over to her. "Sounds about right. Good work learning the technique in such a short time. It will take you some time to refine it, but for now it worked as needed." He grunted as he tried to get more comfortable. "The bond you share with the others continues to grow each day just as you do. I haven't seen and felt what you show for your team in a new Genin in a long time."

Kakashi rolled his head back to its natural position to stare up at the ceiling. "Even in Zabuza's Water Prison I could feel your emotions once that green chakra began to form. Zabuza may not have shown it physically, but the chakra cloak and the emotions with it shocked him immensely."

Amari nodded in thanks of the praise he offered and rested her hands in her lap. "Thank you, Sensei. I just wish I knew what it was…and why it has to encourage him to think I'd be a good Blood Mist Shinobi."

"You'd have done well in the Mist years ago. A shame you were born to such a soft Village. We'd have honed you to be a real shinobi."

Just the memory of his words was enough to coax a shudder out of her.

Her sensei rolled his head back to stare her directly in the eyes with his singular stern yet comforting eye. "You are not Zabuza, Amari. You would never raise your hand to a comrade. Don't let his twisted words make you think otherwise."

"I…" His words filled her with an immense amount of warmth she was in desperate need of. Amari bowed her head in gratitude. "Thank you, Sensei. I needed to hear someone else say that." Because I was beginning to doubt the truth to my own arguments.

"You don't need to thank me. Just look deep inside your heart and you'll find the truth in my words." She bowed her head again, humbled by his belief in her. "As for the chakra cloak and the emotions we could feel, I don't have a solid answer for you. From the reports I read of your encounter with Mizuki, I assumed all you exuded was killing intent because of the volatile emotional state he put you in.

"But there's more to it than that, a lot more. One portion of it is killing intent. That's what your enemies feel when you let it loose like that. I assume you tapped into all of the pain, anguish and anger you have been given by Kasai as a catalyst to the eventual state you reach."

Amari hesitated for a brief second before giving in to answering with a silent nod.

"I see. All I ask is you be careful with that. Hatred is a poison, Amari. If you inject yourself with enough of it, you'll eventually give in to the pain and become someone you don't want to be. Trust me."

"I'll…try my best, Sensei." Her eyes fell away to a spot of wooden floor on her side. "The others needed me to be…a warrior. Someone who was unafraid of Zabuza and willing to fight to the end, just like you. I learned I had that kind of person in me against Mizuki. But I know you're right about my hatred being a poison." She brought her hand to her heart and clenched her shirt tightly. "Every day since I lost Ryu and Kasai I've felt it inside of me, lingering in the darkness of my heart. I've had Mom, you and so many others helping me to fight it…But it's…"

It's always there and never goes away.

"It's not easy, I know. And I know you did it to help save me, and I'm grateful for what you were willing to do." Kakashi reached over and rested his gloved hand on her knee. Looking back to him she found an earnest look in his singular eye. "Just promise me you'll try to find some other way to access your inner warrior." He shook his head. "You don't need your hatred to do it; I've seen you become a fierce fighter without it. So promise me you'll keep searching within yourself so you never have to use your anger to become the fearless shinobi I saw today."

"…I promise, Kakashi-sensei."

He nodded. "Good." He retracted his hand back to his side. "The other portion of your emotions is your protectiveness over your comrades, and that does not fall into anything I've ever experienced in the field of battle. I'm thinking when you tap into your killing intent, you're reshaping it like you're shaping chakra to pass on your determination to those you want to protect. Your green chakra cloak is a different entity altogether.

"When you reached that state, you were releasing the full strength lying within you all at once. Essentially you're revitalizing yourself and putting every ounce of your strength into a final attack. Unfortunately, if you don't strike immediately your chakra is still being drained. My advice for you is this: if you ever have to use it again, don't hesitate to strike. You may only get one chance in a different fight and you may need all of your strength at its highest potency."

Sound advice she would do her best to implement in the future.

"The one theory I have for how you are accessing your emotions and passing them onto us is farfetched, but it's all I've got. You have a strong tie to your spiritual energy, and out of everyone on this team you are the most in tune with your emotions. My guess is your emotions and spiritual energy have been sewn tightly together either as you've grown or because of the major events in your life, and when you feel such intense emotions it seeps into the air, just like your chakra."

He was right, that did sound farfetched…yet it was still plausible. "That…actually makes sense...Kind of. Hmm." Food for thought. She wasn't sure there were any experiments she could run to test his theory or if what he said was even possible, but lacking any other better explanation left her with this single conclusion. That didn't mean it was correct, but it could very well explain the emotions the others could feel from her.

"Speaking of your emotions, I can see something is troubling you. Care to share?"

Amari hesitated to answer, earning her a look of worry from Kakashi. While they touched on almost everything she wanted to speak of, there was one matter she was struggling to bring up. Listening intently to the room around her, she could hear footsteps just outside of the room in a relaxed approach.

"Can we talk later…privately?"

He nodded but she could still she the worry in his eye. The door to the room opened up a moment later and Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, entered the room. "Ah, so he's finally waking up. Are you all right?" she asked when she reached them.

Her blue hair was long and straight, unlike the Nara in the room whose hair was a wild knotted mess thanks to her swim. Tsunami wore a pink short sleeved shirt with a blue knee length skirt. Thus far she had been very polite to the team and was thankful for them protecting her father. Much else about the woman was unknown to Amari, though that was mostly due to her focus being on Kakashi.

"I've definitely been better, but without my team I would be far worse off than I am." Kakashi struggled to sit up, likely out of courtesy to the woman they were a guest of. "It'll be a week before I can move normally."

Amari shook her head at his stubbornness and placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Sensei you need to stay down for now. I'm no medic, the chakra I gave you won't heal any wounds you have or make it so you can walk just yet. Rest is the best medicine you can have."

"Right," he sighed as he laid back down. Her sensei looked over to her with his eye half open. "You should really deactivate your Byakugan. You used it way too much in that last fight."

"Difference is mine doesn't drain my chakra like yours does."

"Amari," Kakashi chided.

"Fine." She deactivated it, shut her eye and rubbed her left temple where the worse throbbing of her headache was coming from. Truth was he was right, even if hers didn't drain her chakra to the same degree as his Sharingan, using it for extended periods of time did have its consequences. Besides the headache, she could no longer see clearly through her left eye, the vision from it being impeded by a blur she couldn't quite see through now.

Thankfully it wouldn't be permanent. The blur caused by overuse eventually faded away, allowing her vision to essentially reset to its normal sight. The more she trained with it, the longer she'd be able to maintain it before the blur and pain set in. She could also increase how far she could see, though thus far she hadn't extended it by much.

Tsunami's entrance was followed by the rest of the team shuffling in with Tazuna. Sakura took her place next to Amari on her knees, her features revealing her worry for their sensei's health. "Sensei, your Sharingan is amazing, but if it puts this much strain on you then maybe it's not worth using," Sakura said.

If only things were so simple. As the others began to speak, Amari let her thoughts drift back to the fight. While the strain it caused this time is definitely a big consequence, we needed his Sharingan. The four of us alone wouldn't have stood a chance against the real Zabuza. It took all our strength, and luck, just to get Kakashi-sensei free.

They were severely outclassed by Zabuza in the fight. Not only did he have a home field advantage of water and mist, but none of the Genin's had experience with going toe to toe with a foe of such power and skill.

Training over time would help them grow stronger, but their second encounter with an enemy who wasn't going to hold back his kill shots was an entirely different experience than their training. Add in Zabuza's potent killing intent and you had a dangerous concoction for a fresh faced team.

I still can't get past that boy's sudden arrival. His mask indicated he is an elite shinobi and likely part of the Mist's Anbu Black Ops but…I don't know. If he is a real tracker then finally killing Zabuza means he'll have to take the secrets and destroy the body so others don't get it.

In the case of Kakashi or even Amari dying in battle, a shinobi would want to analyze their Sharingan's and her Byakugan. Worst case scenario, they would steal their eyes and their entire jutsu and use it against their own village. The trackers duty was to stop that from happening and make sure the secrets that rogue ninjas like Zabuza carried were kept safe.

The weird thing is even if we're from different villages he should have destroyed that body right there to make sure its secrets were no longer a problem. He also used such a strange way to kill him. Senbon were capable of hitting vital points, as he demonstrated, but even then they weren't meant for killing blows…

Amari's eyes widened. Oh no.

"Amari? Sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

Both the Nara and her sensei were broken from their thoughts, apparently both having fallen into the same line of thought instead of paying attention to the others. Amari looked to her sensei, finding him sitting up instead of lying down with the same realization she hit in his eye.

His small nod of confirmation to her worst fears made her heart drop.

"Zabuza isn't dead," Amari stated.

She had suspected something was up, but this theory was her worst case scenario of what had been wrong.

"What do you mean he isn't dead? We saw that kid kill him," Sasuke said.

"No…he took the body away when he should have done his job right there. He also used senbon, throwing needles, to kill him. Senbon aren't meant for that Sasuke. Think about it."

Her teammate took in her thought pattern and hit upon the realization she had tried to explain judging by the shocked look that crossed his face. "Damn it," he muttered.

"What are you all yammering about? You demolished that assassin," Tazuna said.

"As much as I wish that were true, the truth is this: Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi reinforced the conclusion.

Alarmed wails escaped Sakura, Naruto and Tazuna simultaneously. Amari might have laughed if she wasn't biting the inside of her bottom lip in worry. He tricked us and we fell for it. He used those throwing needles to simulate death so Sensei believed he had killed him, but it was a trick, and a good one at that. Senbon can pierce deep but rarely are they able to kill unless they hit a vital organ.

He used the simulated death and our exhaustion from the fight to his advantage to take Zabuza away. An intelligent plan, I'll give him that. But now we have an angry demon wanting revenge. Amari released her lip and suppressed a sigh. Man, this mission is becoming such a drag.

"Encountering suspicion, a ninja prepares quickly," Kakashi spoke to calm the others. "Hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying."

And failing encountering suspicion we create suspicion to keep others at bay. One sword keeps another in the sheathe as the saying goes.

"Sensei, how are we supposed to prepare quickly when you can barely move?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi chuckled lightly. "I can still train you. By the way Amari, that means the seals go back on," he informed, giving her an infuriating eye smile. Amari groaned and lowered her head in depression. Secretly she was really hoping Kakashi would have forgotten about that until she was fully recovered, but clearly he hadn't and had no intention of letting her off the hook.

"Troublesome adult," she mumbled.

"Hold on! A little last minute training isn't going to make us strong enough to defeat Zabuza. You could barely defeat him even with your Sharingan. We have to be reasonable about this," Sakura argued.

Amari couldn't help but agree with her fellow kunoichi, much as she hated admitting it. His water clone was just a tenth of his strength and they had struggled to just get past him.

Kakashi didn't even flinch at the argument. "Sakura, don't forget why I was able to defeat Zabuza. It's because of all four of you that I was able to escape. The four of you helped me to defeat him. You've grown. Naruto." She heard the boy behind him make a sound of questioning. Kakashi aimed a closed eyed smile at him. "You've grown the most."

He's right about that, Amari thought, unashamed by the truth. Compare the Naruto who froze up to the Naruto I fought side by side with against Zabuza and it's like two different people.

A young voice called from behind them all voicing insults of some kind. Amari ignored it and the person voicing them. Obviously Tazuna's grandson had arrived and already had a low opinion of them for whatever stupid reason he decided on.

The boy, Inari, seemed to doubt things were going to change from what little she was picking up and believed they would all die against Gatō.

Naruto being Naruto wanted to crush him.

The Shadow user exhaled a tired sigh. We're going to have to work on that.

She rolled up her scroll and put it back in her pack then grabbed the eight seals and the white bandages out of her pack so she could get it over with. She attached all the seals in the same places as before then moved closer to her sensei so he could activate them.

A few seconds later she was forty pounds heavier and really missing her light body. Kakashi gave her a smug smile under his mask when she gave him a death glare for coming up with this idea. His smugness only grew.

Damn him.

Defeated yet again by her mentor, and also growing incredibly annoyed by the insults coming from the child, Amari decided to take her leave. "Sensei, I'm going to go sit on the dock and meditate for a little while…I've got some lingering thoughts so just let me know when we're going to go out and train."

He nodded understandingly, his faint hint of worry returned in his eye but he left his questions silent for the time being.

"Be careful and make sure you cover those seals up. Keep your eyes and ears open," he told her.

Amari nodded then Body Flickered to the dock where she promptly fell onto her butt when she tried to sit down crossed legged. Her tired body did little to help in dealing with the extra weight, but the Shadow user would endure—it was the only way to get stronger.

First she covered her seals up using the white bandages, which took longer thanks to how heavy her arms were. Once she finished she closed her eyes and let all her thoughts go with the breeze.

The waves were calm compared to how they had been during the fight against Zabuza; then again Water Dragons and Giant Vortex's had a way of making waves, literally. Seagulls sounded off in the distance and a calm breeze brushed against her body, creating a mostly peaceful aura around her.

Learning that Zabuza had not actually died wasn't at all motivating, but it wasn't what was bothering her the most. Her cousin's voice from that memory still lingered in her mind, and with it she could feel her heart still tearing apart inside her chest.

She could hear his words in her head like he had just spoken them to her in person. Although she couldn't remember anything else about him, in her heart she knew the world was lesser without him.

Whoever he had been, the voice in the memory triggered her brain to remember small quirks about him without a visual of who he was or what his name was. Not even more words spoken, just little things that seemed to fit who he was. For instance, the familiarity of being poked in the forehead was definitely originally sourced by him, and she was happy to have even a small fragment of that familiarity still in her life thanks to her mother.

Then there was her original name, Haya. Ever since she woke up in the orphanage she had gone by the name of Amaririsu and Amari. Yet now that she knew Haya was her real name, did she need to give up the name of Amari? But…to give that up would be to abandon the first gift Ryu had given her.

What do I do with this information? Should I even risk using my original name? What if there are still threats out there?

Time passed by with a flurry of confusing and emotional thoughts passing through her mind. Eventually Kakashi came out on crutches and told her to follow him from the trees while he and the others traveled on the grassy floor. Not only was it a way to make her train more, but he had an interesting plan for team training. She wouldn't be taking part in it due to the fact she still needed to recover, but her sensei had a plan to show the others what they had to do.

Even with low chakra and a tired weighted down body Amari followed along until her team stopped and began going over the fundamentals of chakra. Sakura—their go to guide on text from class—gave the other two a quick lesson on the fundamentals.

Basic or not, it was important and taught first for a reason—understanding it helped you in all areas.

Something the boys weren't getting.

Amari picked a few leaves off the tree she was standing on and stuffed them in her pocket while Kakashi scolded Naruto and Sasuke about chakra control being of the utmost importance.

Even though her level of chakra control was greater than her teams, she still needed to practice it and continue to evolve it. Tree climbing and water walking all day weren't going to be available in her state, so she'd have to use the old sticking a leaf to her and holding with chakra as a way to continue to do that. This time around she'd connect more leaves to different parts of her instead of just one spot.

"So what do we need to do to make controlling our chakra second nature?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi chuckled and pointed a singular finger up to where Amari was hiding. "Climb a tree."

"Climb a tree?" the three Genin echoed in confusion as they looked up the tree.

"Just one rule about it guys," Amari said as she walked on the underside of the branch with her arms crossed. "You can't use your hands."

Kakashi focused his chakra to his feet and crutched his way up the tree adjacent to Amari until he was hanging upside down like she was. "Now Amari, how about you explain the importance of this seeing as you already know this technique."

"I'll do my best. Now I know you three are probably wondering how using this will help us defeat Zabuza. The thing is this is the only way we can." Amari lifted up one finger. "First you will have to learn how to draw a precise amount of chakra to a precise point in the body—your feet in this case. Just a heads up, it's not going to be easy. You are going to be mixing both physical and spiritual energy for this type of climbing, and the bottoms of your feet are the hardest points to focus chakra."

"Are you getting the picture? If you master this, you can master any jutsu. Well, theoretically," Kakashi said.

Amari nodded. Training on her chakra control like she had was probably one of the main reasons she had been able to surpass her entire class. "Right. The second point is to learn to maintain your chakra levels. When we fought Zabuza I was maintaining Shadow Clones, Transformations, my eye and that shroud. If you were to ask me to do that and still manage to think through my plans at the Academy I probably wouldn't have been able to."

The young ninja began walking back towards the trunk and then down it with ease. Looking back at how much she had fell off trees, Amari felt a hint of pride at her ability to walk along it without really thinking about it. "Maintaining chakra must become second nature to you if you want to continue to get stronger and if we are going to stand a chance against Zabuza. So," she smirked, "no pressure."

"If you also remember Amari's lecture back in the village and then on the walk here you'll note she mentioned quite a good portion of information on this technique and its importance," Kakashi reminded. Amari felt her cheeks warm at the reminder. "Whoops. I forgot we weren't supposed to mention that again. Well, in any case, Amari why don't you head back and get some rest. You've already mastered this technique and overexerted yourself back in that fight just as I did. Keep the weights on."

"Right." I thought I'd get out of it again. I hate him sometimes. Amari waved to her teammates and her sensei and started the long walk back. "Good luck guys! Try not to hurt yourselves!"

If they get this down now we'll be better off against Zabuza…I just don't know if we'll stand a chance against that boy.