Tree Climbing and a Boy

Naruto awoke to Sasuke's dark orbs staring down at him. Naruto growled and glared at Sasuke.

"What do you want," Naruto hissed. Sasuke frowned at the tone before looking at Naruto sincerely.

"Kakashi wants us," Sasuke said, turning around and walking towards the door. "I'm sorry Naruto."

With that Sasuke left the room. Naruto growled at the door. He draws a kunai on him and he expected a sorry to fix things? He had completely destroyed the trust they had built up, and although he trusted Sasuke more than he trusted Sakura at this point Sasuke still wasn't a comfort when by his side. The only person who was like that so far was Kakashi; even that Tazuna guy was still slightly scared of him, although if he had seen whatever the Kyuubi had done to those two chunin he wouldn't blame them.

Naruto rolled over in his bed before standing and stretching. He proceeded to brush his teeth, and other daily actions before throwing his clothes on and rushing down the stairs. As he reached the stairs he saw Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all waiting by the door, although Kakashi was still using the crutches.

"Hello Naruto," Kakashi said, looking at Naruto pleasantly. Everyone else was quiet.

Naruto just frowned at his two genin teammates before looking at Kakashi sincerely. "Good morning Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sighed and looked at Naruto with pity, although the boy couldn't detect it. Naruto was taking Sasuke's and Sakura's betrayal hard, although it wasn't a true betrayal in a sense. They were doing what any sane human would do if they saw what Naruto did, although that didn't make what they did any better. The hard part would be reporting this to the Hokage, who would want to have Naruto's seal examined, although it would probably have to wait until after the Chunin Exams took place. However, he digressed, and his thinking went back to their original train of thought.

"Today I have something I want to teach you all, something fundamental in the ninja world. Also, once you three have mastered it I will really start to teach you jutsu and other techniques."

The three genin, even Sasuke although his was noticeably quieter and darker, cheered, even Sakura who was still lazy in her workout sensations, although she was steadily getting better.

Kakashi smiled at their enthusiasm before walking out the door of the house and leading them into the wooded area near the house. He smiled as he came upon three, large trees that shot upwards as if they were proud trees that defied any lightning bolt that dared strike the area, not the thunderstorms were common in Nami no Kuni anyways.

Kakashi smiled at them, not that they could see it beneath his mask. "Okay, so what I will be teaching you is a rather simple art. It's the art of climbing trees."

Naruto raised his hand, quite confused with why he specifically was taking the exercise.

"Sensei, you taught me this before I became a genin," Naruto said, although Sakura looked at him skeptically. She was about to say something before a discreet shaking of the head from Sasuke made her clam up. She kept on forgetting she was in no position to act like her normal self with the blonde.

"Yes Naruto, that's why you will be working on something slightly different, the water walking exercise," Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded at this before Sakura raised her hand, still confused as to why they were supposedly learning this.

"But sensei, it's impossible to walk on water, and we can already climb trees," Sakura said.

Kakashi eye-smiled at Sakura, pleased with her question as it proved she was using the knowledge she had more than she used to, basically meaning the time he examined them.

"Great question Sakura. The thing is you will be learning how to climb trees with no hands, and as for water walking, well Zabuza and I did during out fight so how is it impossible?"

Sakura blushed, but Kakashi just shook his head. "Don't get embarrassed. My old teammate asked the same thing when he learned this. Anyways, it's rather simple. It's a training method used to hone your chakra control, although it can be used to improve your chakra reserves as well. It involves focusing a fixed amount of chakra to the bottom of your feet, and using that to climb a tree without using your hands. If the stream of chakra is too weak, you will lose your footing and fall, yet too strong and you will be pushed away from the tree, causing it to break and you to fall. You have to find a delicate balance."

Sakura nodded as Kakashi began walking towards one of the trees. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Kakashi walked up the tree and at slow pace before walking upside down on a branch and looking down at them.

"It's best to get a running start when you're not used to the technique. Use these," he paused as he threw two kunai at Sakura's and Sasuke's feet, one kunai per person, "to mark your progress."

Sasuke nodded and picked up the kunai quickly; although he couldn't help the jealous look he sent Naruto's way. He was an Uchiha after all, an elite, the best of the best; he should be learning water walking, not some clan-less nobody. However, that train of thinking was better than the train of thinking he usually had, so it showed significant improvement, even if it was only to his teammates.

This look made him miss Sakura running up the tree to a branch that was decently high, although significantly lower than Kakashi's. Sasuke still didn't notice it as he ran towards the tree, chakra gathering at his feet. He charged up the tree at a quick pace until he felt the bark weaken beneath him. He glanced down to see the bark was breaking and kicked off, slashing the bark right above it with a kunai. Sasuke flipped in midair and landed roughly before looking upwards, and at that moment he noticed Sakura who was waving at him.

"How," Sasuke growled at Sakura.

Sakura looked at him curiously. "I dunno, I just did it."

Sasuke's growl intensified until Kakashi spoke.

"Sakura the only reason you did it so easily was because you have lower chakra reserves than Sasuke does, making it easier to control. Sasuke's reserves are much larger than your own, making it harder for him to control. I want you to run up and down that tree fifteen times without stopping so you can build your reserves."

Sasuke smiled at that, the wound of Sakura beating him disappearing from his pride. From what Kakashi had said the only reason Sakura got it faster was because she was weaker than he was, at least in his terms. He smirked as Sakura groaned and began running the tree. He then channeled more chakra to his feet. He couldn't be outdone by a pinkette and a dobe.

XxX

Kakashi hopped down from the tree before walking up to Naruto who was waiting in front of a lake.

"So water walking huh," Naruto mumbled, but Kakashi ignored him and began to walk on the water.

"This concept is slightly more complex than tree climbing. This training method is used to gain better chakra control, along with improve your chakra reserves, the same as tree climbing, however this is where the similarities end. To do this, the user has to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of their feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface. This technique is more difficult to master than the tree climbing technique, because the amount of chakra that needs to be emitted changes constantly. This is why you have to know exactly how the water is reacting to your chakra, or else you will fall in. However, the more you practice it, like to tree climbing technique; eventually you can do it subconsciously."

Naruto nodded and channeled chakra onto his feet, slowly walking onto the lake of cold water. He managed it for about five seconds before falling in. He scrambled in the water before shooting upwards, and onto dry land, shaking.

"THAT WATER IS FREEZING!"

Kakashi smiled. "I know. It's incentive to make you learn faster."

Naruto just groaned and took off his wet clothes. If he kept them on they were more likely to give him a cold than keep him warm. With that he went back to trying the technique.

XxX

Haku sighed as he glared at Zabuza as a mother would her child.

"I told you before to be careful, but you didn't listen to me," Haku said as Zabuza awoke with a jolt.

Zabuza groaned and rubbed his neck tenderly before yanking out the senbon.

"Careful you might injure yourself further," Haku warned. Zabuza just shrugged off the warning before smirking at Haku, not that the teenage boy could see it.

"Cruel as ever Haku."

"I was taught to be efficient."

Zabuza nodded as he said that. "You were raised well."

"Are you boasting about yourself after a defeat," Haku teased, but Zabuza just growled and looked at his blade.

"Next time I won't lose."

"You better not," said a short man as he came in the room, flanked by two thugs.

He wore a suit with sunglasses and had light brown hair that spiked behind his head.

"I hired you because I thought you could get the job done, but apparently that was the wrong choice," the man said, raising his voice as he walked closer to Zabuza. He didn't notice Haku tense.

"I was in no way prepared for Kakashi Hatake."

"Excuses!"

The man reached out to hit Zabuza while he couldn't defend himself, but Haku grabbed his arm and squeezed tightly causing him to squirm under the pain.

"If you dare touch him I will kill you," Haku whispered dangerously, glaring at the man.

The chubby, short man stumbled backwards before he regained his balance and glared at Haku.

Zabuza tried to calm things down. "We will get him next time."

"You better; if you lose again you're out of this organization!"

With that the man, Gato, and the thugs that flanked him left the room and slammed the door. Gato turned to the two thugs behind him.

"Go find people to hire; we have trash to get rid of."

However, he was not the only one making plans, behind the door Haku was also consulting Zabuza.

"How long do we have to deal wit him?"

"He protects us from the real hunter-nin Haku."

Haku just sighed and looked outside. "I know."

XxX

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all came back into Tazuna's house exhausted, however they also felt accomplished. Sakura had completed Kakashi's fifteen laps up the tree, although she was feeling highly drained afterwards and ready to faint, so Kakashi let her take a break in fear of chakra exhaustion. Sasuke on the other hand scaled the tree to its top before being forced to run fifteen laps up and down the tree also, and even if he did have larger reserves than Sakura did, he was still exhausted and, like Sakura, had to be carried back to the house. Naruto however, felt the most accomplished. While he had in no way mastered water walking he had managed to stand on the water for a full fifteen minutes, which Kakashi deemed acceptable. Naruto wanted to take it a step further by fighting his clones while he was on the water, and Kakashi agreed but said it would have to wait for tomorrow as Naruto had to practice his own tree climbing as he himself hadn't mastered it.

Thus here they were everyone in the household sitting at the dinner table, with Team 7 eating like starved wolves, even Sakura, who apparently had forgone any table manners she previously had in order to refill her energy. It was a disturbing sight to see.

"Why do you even bother," was mumbled, however everyone heard it.

Everyone turned to see Inari glaring at them.

"What did you say kid," Naruto asked.

"Why do you bother training? It doesn't matter, nobody can beat Gato."

Tazuna and Tsunami looked at the ground in shame as Inari said this, and Naruto glared at the boy.

"Have you heard of hero's kid?"

"Hero's don't exist; they're just people that people make up to make them feel better, just like now. What are you, stupid? There's no such thing as a hero! Nobody can beat Gato so why bother?"

"If nobody can beat Gato I'll just find something that doesn't have a body," Naruto joked, smirking at the kid.

Inari growled at this and glared furiously at Naruto. "Why do you guys bother to try so hard?! No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatō's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, the weak will only end up getting killed! Who do you think you are anyways, barging into our town, our business and trying to pretend to be the saviors?! You don't know what it's like to face this; you don't know what it's like to suffer!"

The room got deathly quiet at that, for different reasons though. Sakura and Sasuke because they were in shock over the kids pessimistic attitude, Tazuna and Tsunami in shame of how their relative was acting, Kakashi because he was afraid of what Naruto might say to upset the kid, and Naruto…well lets not mention Naruto.

"We don't know what it's like to suffer? No, YOU don't know what it's like to suffer. Have you ever been forced to live on the streets, or the fact that your entire village hates you for a reason you didn't even now until a week ago!? What do you know huh? I never got to know my parents because they died the day I was born. I was kicked out the orphanage at five years old because the caretakers hated me for a reason I never knew! I had to live off garbage and scraps for two years, TWO, before the leader of my village gave me an apartment. However, all that did was tell the scumbags at home were I lived, and they ruined my place, no they never attacked me, they just made where I lived a living hell on Earth! I had to go through that for four years, EVEN ON MY GODFORSAKEN BIRTHDAY!"

By now Inari was shaking in fear and everyone but Kakashi was staring at Naruto in disbelief. They couldn't believe that happy-go-lucky boy they had seen throughout the majority of the last part of this trip had gone through that and could endure it.

"I've known suffering for my entire waste of a fucking life! You have a beautiful mother and kind grandfather who love you dearly, who would do anything for you! Have you gone outside for once in your fucking life! Have you seen the orphans that are outside, that are basically dying each day, surviving the very way I did to survive? Yet they aren't sulking! Your own fucking grandfather is trying to change YOUR life for the better by building this bridge. You're spitting in not only the orphans faces but also in your own grandfathers! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF SUFFERING!"

Naruto had lost control of his emotions for a brief moment, allowing the Kyuubi's influence to break through again and leak out nearly palpable killing intent with the last word of his long tirade, although no one could blame him.

Naruto stood up from his chair and walked to the door, opening it quickly.

"Don't follow me!"

With that Naruto slammed the door strongly, causing the entire house to shake.

Sakura and Sasuke were quiet as Inari ran up the stairs and into his room, although his crying was still heard all the way down the stairs. The dinner table was quiet for a while before Sasuke decided to speak up, quite shocked by what Naruto said, especially as what the boy went through could be considered equal, if not worse, than the tragedy that happened in his life.

"Kakashi is all of that true," Sasuke asked.

Kakashi looked at Sakura and Sasuke very harshly, although they could tell the anger was not directed at them, more so at the villagers back at the village. Kakashi then sighed and put his head down before looking at them with a much softer expression.

"Every last word. His parents died in the Kyuubi attack, fighting the beast and like many others he was put in an orphanage. The older generation, that he know knows why they hated him, then turned you, the younger generation, against him afterwards causing him to have no friends until Hinata came along. The matron of the orphanage's hate eventually caused her to kick him out onto the streets where the villagers terrorized him. What they did…it was horrible, something not even Ibiki Morino would do, and that's saying a lot. Until Hokage-sama found him he survived off scraps until Hokage-sama gave him an apartment and a stipend, however as you know, the villagers took care of both of those, either by refusing to serve him, overpricing him, or attacking his apartment. Even when he joined the academy the majority of the instructors hated him so they stunted his growth and kept him weak until he truly applied himself and Anko and I helped train him."

Sakura then noted something that was mentioned in both Naruto's and Kakashi's stories. "Wait, what is this thing that caused the villagers to hate him?"

Kakashi sighed. "I'm not at the liberty to tell you. Only Hokage-sama and Naruto can."

Sasuke frowned at that. While what Naruto went through was comparable to his he couldn't truly understand until he learned what this it was. However, he did know that he might be going about things in the wrong way.

'Naruto went through something comparable to me yet is still able to smile and say he wants to become Hokage. He's…strange. Am I going about things the wrong way? Should I be protecting others instead of trying to hunt down Itachi first and foremost? Or is the dobe wrong? Is protecting others only a hindrance as Itachi said?'

XxX

Naruto punched another clone out of existence before slamming his foot in another's chest. He was fighting on water as he wanted to earlier today; however he was doing so filled with rage, making him much more reckless against his 30 or so clones. He was covered in wounds; however he tore through them like a demon, pure rage driving his thoughts and actions. He carved out another clones throat before slamming his foot in another's groin, causing it to clench its groin in pain before disappearing. Naruto kept whirling through the clones, a hurricane of death, all throughout the night.

XxX

Haku frowned as he saw the blonde haired ninja lying on the ground. He walked up to him, staring at the headband.

'This must the blonde brat Zabuza-sama was talking about. If I killed him now, would that make Zabuza-sama's job easier when the time arose?'

Haku began to prepare to kill Naruto until his eyes flung open and he grabbed his hands.

"Woah," Naruto said. "Who are you?"

Haku smiled serenely, innocently. "Haku. I was just wondering if you were okay. It's not common to see an unconscious ninja lying on the ground around here."

Naruto let Haku's hands go, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, I guess my anger from last night is still somewhere in my system," Naruto said as he ogled Haku publically.

'This girl is pretty, but she doesn't compare with Hinata…wait Hinata? Where did that come from?'

Naruto didn't have time to continue his thoughts as Haku interrupted him.

"So why are you here," Haku said as he went back top picking up herbs for Zabuza.

Naruto smiled. "I'm training with my team to take down some guy called Zabuza and this other guy called Gato, while also protecting this bridge builder," Naruto said before he realized his mistake.

The mission was only ever supposed to be known between the client, the client's family, the village, and the shinobi team. However, he couldn't change it know, as it would seem even stranger if he did.

"Yeah, so what are you doing here," Naruto asked.

"Getting herbs to heal a sick friend."

Naruto smiled. "Can I help?'

Haku smirked. "Sure."

The two proceeded to gather the rest of Haku's herbs in relative silence, only stopping whenever Naruto decided to ask a question. It was a fast process as Haku had to leave before ten minutes was up.

"It was nice meeting you ninja-san," Haku said.

Naruto smiled. "Name's Naruto."

Haku smiled. "That is a nice name."

Naruto smiled and turned before Haku asked a question.

"Ninja-san, what do you think it means to truly be strong?"

Naruto turned and looked at Haku with a confused expression on his face.

"What do you mean?"

Haku smiled. "I believe that when people have something to protect…that is when they truly become strong."

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he gave one of his child-like grins.

"I like that thought."

Haku smiled before staring at Naruto intently. "Do you have someone precious to you?"

Naruto thought back on the question before multiple people sprung to his mind. Sarutobi, Iruka, Anko, Kakashi, Hinata, Tenten, hell even Sasuke and Sakura even though they had lost his trust.

"Yeah, multiple people."

Haku smiled and turned. He began to walk away before saying one last thing.

"By the way, I'm a boy."

"WHAT!?"

Hey guys it's Kuma Akuma. I hope you guys liked this chapter, as it was the introduction of Haku, one of my all-time favorite characters. Anyways, comment, review, read my other stories, and vote on my pole. All that jazz. I go to Great America tomorrow so I pushed myself and got this chapter out very early. There will probably be bonus chapters, as it's summer and I get bored easily, but don't expect them to be coming in rapidly. Chapters this good don't come quickly. Sigh, I'm such a braggart. Whatever. See you guys later and avoid the Earl.