"The Way of the Wood ist known for calling upon us, our priest brought the Wood to all and stopped all war as she did once before"

- The Book of Log

C16: Wave After Wave (Pt.3)

Kakashi laid face-first on the comfy futon brooding about sea gulls. Approximately one minute, thirty-three seconds and fifty-two milliseconds ago by his count, he had been rudely pulled out of his sleep by the rude guffaws of the sea gulls. They always seemed to mock him when he woke up, almost like they derived pleasure in seeing him flail about after using the Sharingan a little too much.

The room swirled as he opened his eyes.

I definitely should have stopped using Obito's Sharingan after my joke

He pulled down his headband.

Better

"Are you alright?"

He wasn't quite sure how to respond, so he kept his eyes shut. Sea gulls were native here, not in Konoha. Although that didn't stop them from stealing bread straight out of his hands as he walked with his father back from the Academy.

"Mr Hatake, can you hear me? Your students are extremely worried about you."

He opened his eyes and this time, saw a pretty woman with long bluish dark-coloured hair wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt with red accents at the ends.

No weapons. The room looks normal. Tazuna's daughter?

"I've been better," He tried sitting-up, "It'll be a week before I can move normally."

Almost as if they were waiting for him to speak, he heard a quick thud and the creaking of each flight of steps. Naruto was the first one up the stairs with Sasuke and Sakura following right behind him.

"Good morning Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, "It has been approximately-"

Sasuke cut him off, "You collapsed and so, we had to lug you across a boat and into this village,"

Sakura continued, "We reached here last night and Sasuke was the last one to wake up at half an hour ago."

Kakashi observed them closely.

They look fine and considering the food in Sasuke's hand, fed too. The bread looks a bit stale though…

"Interrupting people is not proper etiquette Sasuke so I'd appreciate it if you stop," said Naruto a bit louder than before.

"Well," the Uchiha took a bite from his sandwich, "It's too early to hear a debriefing and Kakashi-sensei just woke up anyway. He doesn't need the specifics."

The trio looked at their sensei who was tidying up his futon. Sasuke and Naruto looked pointedly at Sakura who waited until Kakashi stood up and stretched before she spoke.

"Sensei."

He looked at her and clicked his wrists with a sigh of relief, "Yes?"

"Naruto noticed that Momochi-san was only knocked out and so, we were worried about him coming back."

Kakashi looked at them for a few seconds, his mind running a mile a second, before speaking, "That does make sense. Hunter-nin normally destroy the body right there and then, and also, a senbon to the neck really isn't the most effective way to kill someone."

Sasuke looked a bit confused, "Sakura said that the reason why you couldn't feel his pulse is because of the senbon, is that true? I trust her, but stopping your heart beat without dying sounds kinda unrealistic."

He looked at his cute little student, "Well, she's right. We live in a pretty unrealistic world Sasuke, why. I wouldn't be too surprised if I fell down a hole and landed in some abandoned crypt with mummies and rats trying to eat me."

"You wouldn't?" Naruto's words had a tiny hint of confusion, "Doesn't it sound a bit… preposterous?"

"I'm just joking Naruto," Kakashi quite enjoyed how the blond always took his words at face value, "Although, saying that, there was this one time we found a rubber duck factory hiding inside a mountain."

Naruto wasn't sure how to react, so he decided not to. Sasuke and Sakura made the joint decision to not contribute to this tangent.

A sea gull slammed into the window, making everyone jump except for Kakashi. Tazuna's daughter almost dropped the plate she was holding.

"You seem pretty relaxed about this sensei, considering that he almost killed us," said Sakura finally settling after the jump, "Shouldn't you look like, even a little bit panicked?"

Kakashi folded his arms, "And what good would that do?"

Sakura muttered something he couldn't quite catch. Considering his hearing, it probably meant that she had reconsidered speaking.

"If panicking would help, I'd panic," He looked at the three of them, "But it won't, so I won't. Simple as."

Sasuke looked like he was about to give a retort, but their sensei continued, "I'm not fighting him on my own anyway." He gave them what he hoped was a reassuring eye-smile, "I have you three! A little bit of training and I think you guys should be okay."

None of them looked convinced.

"He's almost at your level sensei. I'm not sure if we can succeed against him, or his ally who was also almost at your level." said Naruto incredulously, "Shouldn't we call in some back-up?"

"And then what happen?" He paused for emphasis, "We'll either have to quit the mission or they'll be charged a fine along with the proper mission payment."

No one made to respond.

Giving the blond a somewhat evil eye-smile to unnerve him, he continued "You willingly continued this mission, so you'll have to take responsibility."

Kakashi gave the entire room a glance and noticed that not only had the sea gulls finally vacated the nearby premises, but Tazuna's daughter looked paler than the sheets he was sitting on. He didn't like being harsh, but as this would be a good learning experience, he had to say it just like that.

"But don't worry about that, because I am here."

It didn't mean that he couldn't reassure them though. Giving them a final sweeping look, he thanked Tazuna's daughter for the food and told them to meet him outside.

The day was slightly foggy, but nice and warm in Sakura's opinion. They'd moved away from Tazuna-san's lovely beach front property and into the woods that separated him from the rest of the village, or so she was told by Tsunami-san. Sakura remembered her mum giving her a talk when she was five about property being a good investment as it would still be there when the economy tanks to the underworld. It was a good thing she had great memory since Tsunami-san was quite eager to discuss these things with her since the demographics of Wave had a dearth of educated women since anyone who had a brain and wasn't her had left the country after Gato more or less colonised and squeezed it dry using his hydra company.

She shook her head and focused on the never-ending trees which seemed to make-up this part of the small nation they were in, until they stopped in a seemingly random clearing in the woods courtesy of sensei nodding to himself and sitting down.

The trio followed suit.

"I want us all to be up-to-date on each other's skills, especially since I gave you three time off to focus on your own pursuits" He paused and looked at her blond teammate, "And I have some questions about your ability Naruto."

Sakura quickly ran through what she knew. Puppetry was a new skill she was working on and she'd made some progress on that front. It was something really different which made it all the more exciting. Normal ninjutsu that sensei tried to force her to learn was all well and good, but everyone expected that.

No one expects puppets from a Konoha shinobi!

Her oil bombs were also much better although seeing it in action courtesy of Naruto, showed her that it was actually pretty useless except as a diversion. She'd stayed up the last night after coming back from the village to perfect her first ever puppet which was something she was proud of, even if it looked like she'd smashed it on the floor and drop kicked it into a bear pit.

There was something about being traumatised and half-asleep that brought out the best in her.

At times, she was happy that her mum was a skilled merchant with easy access to goods and connections with master carpenters who knew how to lathe and saw amongst other things. But on the other hand, her constant bringing down of her for choosing to become a ninja was getting worse. She kept going on and on about how she'd be safer as a civilian and that she was evil for being a ninja, always bringing dad into the conversation without fail.

Where would her mother have been if medical ninjutsu didn't exist? She wasn't on the trip which had permanently changed her life. Her father died. Her mother developed her hatred for all things ninja. She channelled all her energies. All that pent-up aggression. And regret. All into the family business to turn it into what it was today. Ignoring her every desire and never listening-

"Sakura?"

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and noticed Sasuke who was looking at her hand and the torn grass in it. There was a pile of ripped grass in front of her. She immediately smoothed her face, adopted a calmer look and a straighter posture, pushing her thoughts away, "Yes?"

"Kakashi-sensei wants to go over jutsu now," he told her and pointed at sensei who'd already started a fire using a log.

"Praise the log for it is he who in sacrificing himself sustains us. Protects us from the freezing tendrils of the fog." He paused, "Fog probably from dirty Kiri puddles."

Sakura looked at her sensei unsure of what to say. Naruto seemed really interested in the ritual sensei was performing over the fire. Sasuke seemed to be trying really hard not to look interested in the log.

After a few minutes, sensei turned towards them his lone eye shining with renewed vigour, "We'll start with you, Sakura."

Sakura began speaking, "I have a puppet which is useful for long range attacks, my earth wall Jutsu and my healing which is-"

Sensei interrupted her, "You mustn't have heard me, but I also asked you three to specify what role you want to play in the team."

She thought about it for a minute and then spoke, "Considering my current skill set, I'd be the range attacker or main support for the team although my medical skills aren't that good."

Sensei nodded and turned his eyes to her left towards Sasuke.

"I've got a couple of fire jutsu, so I'd say I'm a mid-range to close range fighter. Mostly projectile-based ninjutsu."

Next to him was Naruto.

"Due to the scrolls you gave me, I can perform E-rank Wind jutsu. I can barely do water Jutsu. Fire, Earth and Lightning are on a similar level and worse than water. Besides that, I've practiced my substitution jutsu to a usable level. My role in the team is uncertain due to the skills I have. I could probably perform any role, but not very well due to my lack of experience."

Sensei closed his eyes. Either in thought or in disappointment, she wasn't sure. They definitely didn't have the skills to take on S-rank ninja like Zabuza.

She'd never even used her puppets in battle before.

Sensei opened his eyes and quickly shot off a series of instructions almost like a captain. From the look on his face, she could tell that he had more practice in giving out commands than she had in being a ninja.

"Sakura, I want you to pick up every mushroom in the fairy rings surrounding us."

The Haruno could barely get a word in before he continued.

"Sasuke, go hunt something and cook it for all of us."

The Uchiha looked like he wanted sensei to repeat himself.

"Naruto, douse the fire."

The Uzumaki looked at the flames and without any hand signs, visibly created water from thin air. Not enough to douse the fire though.

Sensei looked at Sasuke and her, "Same goes for you two, only Jutsu are allowed."

He expects me to use Jutsu to pick up mushrooms. In a fairy ring?

Sakura stood up to get a better look at the clearing and noticed three concentric circles of mushrooms. The gears turned in her head as she tried to figure out a way to do this.

"Before you go Sasuke, I want everyone to listen up."

Naruto pulled back his outstretched hand which looked extremely wet.

"Naruto, what is the quest you received for this mission?"

He gave them a blank look and started reciting the details of the mission.

[C] Wave After Wave:

Your first trip outside of Konoha. The beautiful land of Waves with no issues whatsoever.

Knowing your luck, you better watch yourself. Great opportunities lie ahead, but like anything worth having, it will not be easy.

Objectives:

Escort Tazuna to the land of Waves

Fend off aggressors

Oversee the completion of the Bridge

Completion Award:

5,000 EXP

1 TP

Rank [C] mission added to portfolio

Completion Failure:

Probable death and dismemberment

Else: Dependant on situation

Accept?

Yes or No

The mission briefing sounded unhelpfully vague, although the danger in the mission was clear by the consequences of failure. Sakura heard Sensei and Sasuke probe Naruto for more details, but he didn't explain much beyond saying that 'EXP' and 'TP' gave him 'visual progression of his development as a human being' according to him.

"Could you remove me from your party as well, Naruto?" asked Sensei.

Naruto nose twitched a little bit. Sakura still hadn't gotten used to the blond's tells for his emotions, but she'd figured out that any movement of his face that wasn't necessary, betrayed his feelings. Perhaps he was insulted? He did, after all, confide in them and even gave them access to his ability somewhat. It was quite helpful, being able to see how much health she had.

"Why?"

"It blocks the right side of my vision, reducing my field of view."

In a few moments, sensei's health bar disappeared from her field of view, leaving just her teammates.

"I could adjust for it in time, but it just isn't something I want as a distraction."

They went back to discussing some of the finer points of Naruto's ability, but she didn't really care. It was starting to get a little bit boring, so she switched tack and started trying to figure out what sensei meant.

Pick up mushrooms. Pick them up.

"If I have to use Jutsu only…" she muttered to herself.

Since this is training, it must be to develop my chakra strings.

She stood up and heard her team calling for her. She continued thinking as she walked towards the Uchiha.

The concentric circles increase in size, trying to pick up every mushroom would require a lot of concentration if I sit in the centre. It would be good practice, I guess. Although I'm not sure how useful it will be against the hunter-nin and Zabuza

"Naruto can tell us our traits Sakura," Sasuke looked at her with excitement, "He forget to mention it last time!"

Sakura felt that he was being too enthusiastic. It was unlikely. Unlikely that anything actually interesting would appear.

"Kakashi-sensei said no levels, but this should be fine."

Sensei nodded, "Could you tell me my levels actually?"

"Hey, that's not fair," Sasuke protested, but their sensei quickly told him that he was already quite confident in his skills and that it wouldn't matter to him as much.

Sasuke's enthusiasm died as the blond spoke. Nothing interesting. It was pretty obvious that he had a dormant Sharingan.

Sensei went next. He was level 91. He could use water vapour for Water Jutsu and had a Mangekyo Sharingan as well as control over all five elements.

"What is it out of?" the man asked his student.

"100, although I have never met any people in the last five levels"

"That is actually pretty awesome Kakashi-sensei, I take back anything bad I said about you." complimented Sasuke, looking at sensei with awe. He seemed a bit uncomfortable with the unadulterated praise he was receiving. She could relate, any amount of praise was too much. It made her accomplishments feel fake, "I've never even heard of a Mangekyo Sharingan before."

"Well… I've been a ninja since I was five. I wouldn't be your sensei if you were already stronger than me." said Sensei, "Anyway, all things considered. I expected something like that. it's your turn now."

He looked at her. She turned towards Naruto who hesitated a bit.

"What's wrong?" she asked, "Are my, what did you call it Sasuke? A Trait? Yeah, traits. Are my traits that bad?"

"No, no. I'm assuming that you wouldn't want me to talk about it?"

Sakura was very confused, "I'm not sure about what you mean by that?"

"Control Freak" deadpanned Naruto.

"Come again?" Sakura wasn't sure if she heard him right.

"Control Freak, it grants you 100% chakra control and gives you -95% to Jutsu cost."

That was actually pretty amazing.

"Woah Sakura, I didn't realise just how over-powered your chakra control is." said Sasuke appreciatively.

That's right. My control is amazing. Yes, he's right. But he doesn't need to compliment me for that. I didn't do anything to get that. I was just born with it; it isn't worth complimenting. I'd much rather he-

"Dissociative Chakra Disorder"

"What?"

Did he just say disorder?

"I hesitated earlier because I wasn't sure if you wanted me to say it out loud."

Disorder?

Sakura felt like a penny had dropped into her stomach, weighing her down like lead.

"I don't know much about it because I burnt some research notes for this. Tsunade-sama's dabbled into the mental aspects of healthcare." said Naruto quickly noticing the change in her expression.

This is a mental disorder? Of course, with your childhood it shouldn't come as a surprise

Naruto tried speaking even faster but stopped when Sensei put a hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing sensei?" she asked, not particularly desiring of human contact even on a good day, forget right now.

"Let Naruto finish explaining. He may suck at prioritising information but he doesn't seem overly worried about this issue so there must be a reason for it." He gave her a reassuring eye-smile.

It was actually somewhat reassuring.

Naruto was a bit on the stupid side. Despite his intelligence.

"I didn't understand much of it because being able to quote verbatim is different from having a thorough understanding of the subject material-."

Perhaps I overestimated him

"-But she mentioned how she met four individuals during war time who exhibited traits she considered characteristic of the disorder that she herself coined. They were experiments with chakra modifications and their most noticeable trait was a split personality where-"

Sakura knew she had no modified chakra. At least, she didn't think she did. It sounded like something that would be obvious if it was the case.

"What do you mean by a split personality?"

Mental health wasn't a field ninja pursued, so there were almost no books on the matter. Tsunade-sama having done some work on it didn't surprise her one bit. She was basically kami's gift to humanity for how much she contributed to the medical field.

"She described this disorder's split personality as an 'inner' you. Like an 'inner Sakura' in your case." Naruto paused before continuing, "I would analogize it to a friend who is always with you, but gives you bad advice. Although she said that they were normally murderous…"

Sakura didn't want to hear any more of this, "I don't have a modified chakra system."

Naruto looked thoughtful, "She focused heavily on foreign chakra, but it was really vague about the source. Maybe it's just dormant. Or perhaps, it isn't even the same disease and she was just talking about weird chakras. I'm not a qualified medic ninja, so take my words with a grain of salt."

Sakura felt sufficiently demotivated and so, decided to start working on trying to lift up mushrooms, ignoring the others. She was fine. Clearly. All she needed to do was avoid having her chakra messed with and she'd be fine.

"Thank you for the food!" said Naruto before digging into the rice and smoked haddock.

Tazuna's family and his team were sitting around a dining table which just about fit them all with the trio having to join their seats together, so Sasuke could sit in the middle. The room itself was cluttered with too many things for Naruto's tastes as he resumed his habit that had developed over the last week of criticising its interior design while eating in the silence that normally permeated each meal.

"Killing rabbits is a lot harder than it looks," muttered Sasuke as he ate his third baked tomato.

No one spoke. Well, except Sasuke who narrated his daily life. The blond wasn't sure why he did it, but he remembered in a book that it could be a coping mechanism. Although, he wasn't quite sure why this happened only at the dinner table. Perhaps he had a journal?

"You've got to control the flame. Too weak a fire and it's just covered in soot. Too strong and only the outside gets cooked."

The blond admitted to himself that he did interject from time to time to support his best friend and supplement his monologue with facts from his books which he assumed he appreciated judging by the strange grunting noise he'd learnt from his father when Mikoto-obasan corrected his inaccuracies.

Kakashi-sensei hummed as he ate a ration bar. Sakura was eating a ration bar too. When he had informed them about the massive stash of ration bars, it was only natural that every should try them at least once to see if they fulfilled their purpose. Luckily, Sakura's stomach could tolerate them and made a welcome change from her previous liquid diet.

There was a complete lull in the monologue. Sasuke had finished his plate and looked frustrated.

"It's been a week and every time we eat, it feels like someone's dad died."

The reaction was instantaneous. Naruto knew that Sasuke not thinking about what he said would come back to haunt him. Kakashi-sensei and him watched as someone gasped and Inari dropped his spoon.

It fell with a clack.

"Why are you even here?" Inari's eyes were filled with rage, "Who do you think you are? Every day, you come back and start talking about your day. Do you honestly think that you can beat Gato?"

Naruto considered answering, but the boy just continued.

"You act like as if you ninja can just walk in and be the hero."

The blond noticed how worried Tazuna and Tsunami-san looked. Considering the picture in the back, a family photo with a man's face crossed out, it was pretty obvious that his father passed away.

"Heroes don't exist."

The kid stopped talking.

Naruto felt obligated to reply, having the strange feeling that he was being attacked somehow, "Heroes do exist Inari, you can start by reading the many books on the bookshelf behind you. I see six from where I'm sitting that have a hero in them." evenly spoke the blond. He didn't want his tone to sound condescending.

The kid became even more incensed, "Half the time you open your mouth, you mention a book or another." If looks could kill, the blond was pretty sure his team could have filed manslaughter charges against the boy, "News flash, books are not real. They don't exist. We make up stuff to make us feel better about ourselves."

Naruto was tempted to correct his sentence, but he let it slide. Doing that wouldn't help progress this conversation further. He'd learnt that from Kiba, not willingly but all the same it was a good lesson to have learned.

"We have the First Hokage who ended the Warring Shinobi ages by establishing the first hidden village. He was a hero because he improved life expectancies by-"

"But he's dead isn't he? They all die in the end, like…. Like."

Inari looked like he was about to cry.

Naruto thought about his books. He loved them. The Hero's journey was a trope, but he still enjoyed it. Heroes do exist. People who improve the lives of others greatly. People who without which, the world would be a very different place. They died yes, but their death was for a good cause. The greater good.

"Their death has meaning. Heroes are heroes because they are willing to die for the betterment of others, they care about people."

Inari looked like he wanted to leave, but at the same time he felt like he had to stay, "That doesn't matter though. They die. They leave people behind."

"Then we'll make sure that doesn't happen, my team can prove that heroes exist. That we can save this country. Life can get better"

"Don't decide things for us," Sakura spoke quickly, "It's also unrealistic to say that no one will die."

Sasuke decided to give his two ryo on the matter, "I'm all for being hero." He leaned in closer, "If we want to be legit ones, we must be willing to die."

"Nobody is dying on my watch."

Everyone became silent as Kakashi-sensei finished speaking. Only the crickets disrespected Kakashi-sensei's dramatic pause by chirping in the silence that followed.

Naruto decided to resume eating.

"Now all of you should go to bed, it's late and we've already taken up too much of Tazuna-san's precious time. He's still got to work tomorrow."

Sasuke quickly took the only tomato on Naruto's plate before bolting upstairs, faster than the blond had ever seen him move.

I actually wanted to eat it this time

R&R (Suggestions and advice are always welcome!)