"This is my house," says Tazuna, opening the door and beckoning the four ninjas inside. "You are welcome to stay here while you are in the Land of Waves."
"I'm surprised we didn't meet any other shinobi on the way here," says Madoka, looking around at Tazuna's house with interest.
"Oh we will meet more soon enough," says Kakashi sensei.
Naruto looks up at Kakashi sensei in awe. "How do you know?" he asks.
"I have this feeling…" Kakashi sensei trails off and cheerfully says, "besides, Tazuna did say that Gato hired rogue ninjas! I doubt the Demon Brothers were the worst of them!"
A black haired woman walks briskly into the room from another part of the house. "Father!" she says, happily. "You made it back alright!" she sees the four ninjas. "Are they the ninjas you hired? They don't look very...well...threatening."
"Threatening?!" yells Naruto, waving his arms about in annoyance. "I can cause earthquakes! I don't need to look threatening!"
Kakashi sensei droops, seeming a little saddened by the woman's opinion of them. "Not threatening!" he whines. "I'm losing my edge!"
"It's my hair, isn't it?" demands Madoka, tugging on his long, pink ponytail. "Dammit, I knew there was a disadvantage I was missing!"
Sasuke sticks her bottom lip and scowles, crossing her arms in annoyance. Her big, blue velvet bow makes her look like a pouty little kid.
Sitting on Naruto's shoulder, Sparky squawks loudly.
"Exactly," agrees Naruto firmly.
Nobody says anything. Everyone just kinda looks around at each other awkwardly. Naruto opens his mouth to say something, realizes he has no idea what to say and closes it again. The silence stretches on and still no one says anything or moves.
A little boy in blue overalls and a stripy hat stomps into the house and loudly demands, "Who are all these idiots and why are you all just standing around staring at each other?"
"Inari, don't be rude," scolds Tazuna. "These people are our guests. They are shinobi, come to help us fight off Gato."
"Woah, hold up!" says Kakashi sensei, holding his hands up in a 'back off' gesture. "Is Gato a C Rank threat?"
"Well, he's not a trained fighter," says Tazuna carefully. "It's his goons that will be a real problem."
"Well, so long it's Gato that attacks you, we'll be all over it." Kakashi sensei nods several times, as if agreeing with himself.
Naruto opens his mouth to protest that Kakashi sensei is being mean, when Madoka bursts out laughing. Oh, Kakashi sensei was joking.
"Very funny," mumbles Tazuna. "Some bodyguards you are."
"Next time how about getting the appropriate level team?" suggest Kakashi patronizingly. "If you can't afford it, just explain things to the Hokage and hope for the best."
"You should all just go home," pouts Inari hostilely. "Gato's men are way too strong: you'll never beat them."
"Little boy, we beat up two of them on the way here," says Kakashi sensei.
"Yeah, but there were only two of them and four of you," spits Inari. "Even if one of you is a stupid girl."
"You take that back right now!" shouts Sasuke, angry.
"But you are a stupid girl!" protests Inari. "You even have a stupid bow in your hair! What kind of ninja is that girly?"
Sasuke does something Naruto does not expect. She leaps forward and punches Inari in the face. "I AM NOT STUPID, YOU LITTLE S###!"
"Sasuke!" Kakashi sensei snaps angrily. "You should know better than to hit a client, no matter how much you may want to."
Sasuke looks more embarrassed at her lack of manners than sorry she hit a client.
Tazuna sighs and says, "I suppose none of us have made very good impressions so far, have we?" He motions to his daughter, who is making sure Inari is alright. "This is my daughter Tsunami and my Grandson Inari."
Kakashi sensei tries to smile in a friendly manner, but only ends up looking creepy. "I'm Kakashi Hatake," he tells Tsunami and Inari. "These three idiots are my students, Sasuke, Naruto and Madoka."
Tsunami stands up, having confirmed that Inari is only bruised, and says, "You boys will have to share the spare room. Sasuke, you'll be in my room where I can keep an eye on you."
Naruto can tell by Sasuke's pout that she does not like that idea at all.
"Um, Kakashi sensei?" Madoka asks as team seven follows their sensei into the forest. "Why Aren't we guarding the old guy and his bridge?"
"Well, if my estimation is right, whoever tries to attack him next will be a lot stronger than the Demon Brothers," says Kakashi sensei. "So I am going to give you some training exercises to do to prepare for our next opponent.
"Are you going to teach us a cool jutsu?" asks Naruto hopefully.
"That depends on your point of view."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to teach you how to climb trees."
"I already know how to climb trees!"
"Ah, but this is a technique used only by ninjas."
Naruto crosses his arms. "Show me or I'll leave."
Kakashi sensei sighs and walks over to a tree. He then proceeds to simply walk up the trunk as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
Naruto is finally interested. It's not as cool as draining a river, but he is interested. "How did you do that?" he asks Kakashi sensei.
"By channelling chakra to the soles of my feet and using it to stick to the tree," explains Kakashi sensei. "This is a chakra control exercise that has many practical uses. Theoretically once you have mastered the Tree Climbing exercise, you will have the level of chakra control required to master any jutsu."
"Really?" asks Naruto, suddenly hopeful. "ANY jutsu?"
"Yes," says Kakashi sensei. "Although there's one you might want to practice indoors, just incase."
"AWESOME!" Naruto jumps up, punching his fist into the air.
"What jutsu would we need to practice indoors?" asks Madoka curiously.
"Never mind," says Kakashi. "Naruto should know what one I'm talking about."
Naruto realizes with a jolt that Kakashi sensei is talking about the gravity seal. "You mean I could actually learn to control that seal?" asks Naruto, not quite daring to believe it.
"Of course," smiles Kakashi sensei, somehow managing to look creepy again. "All you need is the chakra control, right?"
"What seal?" asks Madoka, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Do you seriously not remember that time Naruto spent half a year floating?" asks Kakashi sensei.
"I didn't really know Naruto back then," explains Madoka. "We weren't in the same class."
Kakashi sensei sighs. "Never mind then," he says. Then he points to the trees and says, "Pick a tree each and get climbing! It's usually best to start by running at the tree to get some momentum going."
Determined to master this jutsu as fast as possible, Naruto channels as much chakra as he can into his feet and runs at the tree nearest him. He barely makes it two steps up the tree before the three sends him flying backwards. Naruto crashes to the ground.
Sasuke has a go at climbing a tree of her own selection, but does not make it much farther up her tree than Naruto got up his. "Ow," complains Sasuke, rubbing her butt as she picks herself up off the grass.
The sound of laughter floats down from a nearby tree. Naruto and Sasuke glare up at Madoka, who is sitting in the branches of his selected tree, swinging his legs and grinning at his teammates. "This exercise is easy!" he says, and walks up the rest of the tree.
Sasuke and Naruto share a look of mutual competitiveness and try to climb their trees again. Neither of them gets much higher than they did the first time before falling back onto the grass.
"Good, it seems one of you understands the exercise," says Kakashi sensei, nodding. "Madoka, you can come with me and help guard the bridge from squirrels, bandits and other assorted C Rank threats."
"Okay!" agrees Madoka, and strolls down the tree.
Kakashi sensei pulls out a couple of kunai and throws them toward Sasuke and Naruto. A normal kunai lands in front of Sasuke, but a three-pronged kunai lands in front of Naruto. Casually, Kakashi sensei says, "Use those kunai to mark how far you get up the tree each time. That way you can keep track of your progress."
Naruto picks up the three pronged kunai, not quite believing his eyes. He knows this kind of kunai, but he's never seen one. At first he is not sure it is what he thinks it is, but the Flying Thunder God Seal on the hilt declares that it is, in fact, one of the Fourth Hokage's special kunai. Naruto turns to look at Kakashi sensei, who is carefully Not Watching Naruto. Naruto grins knowingly and Kakashi sensei smiles back by scrunching his visible eye closed. For all Naruto knows, Kakashi sensei could be winking, but somehow, Naruto is sure it is a smile.
Sasuke is already falling back off her tree again, and Madoka has reached the ground. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all, because Naruto has something that belonged to his father. What does matter is that no one can ever find out that he has it. So while Sasuke is preoccupied with straightening her bow and Madoka is following Kakashi sensei to the bridge, Naruto switches his Father's kunai for one of his own.