The moon is high and the night is warm. Naruto and Sasuke are also very high in the sky, and rather hot and sweaty. Both are panting from exertion while hanging on to the very tops of their training-trees.
"Wanna head back?" asks Sasuke.
"Yep!" grins Naruto. "I am HUNGRY!"
Sasuke knows exactly what her Dad would say to that.
The pair run down their respective trees, happy because they finally mastered the jutsu. When they reach the bottom, Naruto asks, "Sasuke, how does your skirt stay in the exact perfect place at all time?"
"It's a combat skirt," says Sasuke, who uses a trick her mother showed her that involves...well that's a secret passed down from kunoichi to kunoichi since it was first discovered in the warring states era. The Clothing Stay in Place Jutsu.
By the time they reach the bottom of the trees they can barely stand. So they lean on each other while they drag themselves back to Tazuna's house. By the time they get there it is evident that Naruto is the more exhausted as he is leaning quite heavily on Sasuke. While Sasuke doesn't like being so close to Naruto, she is glad he not treating her like a weak little girl and trying to carry her back or something stupid like that.
"Ah, you're back," Kakashi sensei greets them.
"Sit down," Tsunami tells them, pointing at the table with her serving spoon.
Naruto and Sasuke collapse on opposite sides of the table and settle down to eat their dinner. Sasuke regrets sitting opposite Naruto because now she has to look at him and he keeps smiling at her.
"We finally made it to the top of the trees!" Naruto boasts.
"Good," says Kakashi sensei. "Tomorrow you two can come to the bridge and help us guard Tazuna."
"Cool," grins Naruto, laying his head on the table.
"Well," grins Tazuna. "We make quite a tired, dirty, sweaty bunch. But you've mastered your training and I'm nearly finished the bridge!"
"You lot are hopeless!" sighs Tsunami. "Please don't work yourselves to death."
"Don't worry," says Tazuna. "We will be fine."
"Imma sleep a lot tonight," says Naruto, yawning widely.
Sasuke notices Inari shaking at about the same time Naruto does. It is Naruto who speaks up, however.
"What's the matter with you, Inari?" Naruto snaps, showing more malice than Sasuke has ever seen from the openhearted eyesore.
Inari glares daggers at Naruto. "You wouldn't understand!" Inari yells. "If you understood, you wouldn't wear yourselves out trying! You'd just give up and go home! You can't beat Gato's thugs! None of you can! You're nowhere near as strong as them! You act all tough, but you're not big and strong like they are! They'll tear you to pieces!
"Shut up!" Naruto yells back. "I am not a weakling like you! I will never loose!"
"SHUT UP! This isn't your town! You don't know what we're all going through! You are always so happy; you have no idea what MY life is like! How could you possibly know what pain and loneliness are like?"
Sasuke sucks in her breath. As far as she can tell, everyone loves Naruto. Her clan thinks the world of him, and his family always dotes on him. Out of the corner of her eye, Sasuke sees Kakashi sensei lean forward, an interested but anxious expression on his face.
Naruto's face turns cold and hard. "You are wrong," he says. "I do know pain and loneliness. I know it every time I walk through Konoha alone. I know it whenever the police turn their backs for a moment. I know fear and hate and my parents died the day I was born. You think you have problems brat? Pain and loneliness are the closest companions of a shinobi. So you can live your life as the star of your own melodrama and treat the people around you like guests at your pity-party, but while I rise above the people who treat me like dirt, you'll be nothing but a CRY BABY!" Naruto raises his voice to a shout.
Sasuke is surprised. Does her clan dote on Naruto because they are protecting him? But from what? And why?
Inari starts crying and runs from the room.
"Naruto."
They all turn to Kakashi sensei. Kakashi sensei is looking down at the table. They cannot tell what he is thinking. "When we get back to the Leaf there is something the Hokage must tell you. Remind me to convince him."
"Yes sensei." Naruto replies.
"Until then we will not speak of this again."
"Yes sensei."
"ZABUZA!" Gato's impatient voice roars over the headset that Zabuza just threw on the ground. "When are you going to attack! The bridge is nearly finished!"
"May I?" asks Haku.
"Go ahead," replies Zabuza.
Haku steps on the headset, breaking it in four pieces.
"Let's go kick some tree-hugger booty," says Zabuza, grinning behind the bandages that cover his mouth and neck.
Haku smiles and puts on her mask.
Kakashi, Sasuke, Madoka and Tazuna set off without Naruto, who is still fast asleep.
"Keep an eye on Naruto," Kakashi tells Tsunami. "He's completely worn himself out. It's unlikely he will move for a while."
Then they leave and head to the bridge.
At the bridge, all the workers are lying in pools of their own blood. Only one is still alive. Madoka runs over to the man straight away and begins to heal him. "MONSTERS!" the man tries to warn them. "There were monsters here!"
"Don't worry," says Kakashi. "I'm sure we can handle it."
"No, you don't understand…!" the man coughs. "They were no thugs…!"
"Shinobi." Kakashi straightens up, ready for a fight. The enemy is here and he looks forward to finding out who the enemy is. "Let's get these men out of here."
Naruto wakes up with a familiar smell in his nose. His ANBU was here recently. Very recently. Naruto sits up, awake in an instant. His panda sleeping hat stopped smelling of his ANBU a long time ago, but he can smell the smell, fresh and strong. Naruto closes his eyes and follows his nose. The smell is coming from Kakashi sensei's bedroll.
Wait.
Kakashi sensei's scent is not on his bedroll. The only scent on that bedroll is the ANBU's. No, that can't be right. Naruto opens his eyes and takes a wiff of Kakashi sensei's spare shirt. It smells like Kakashi sensei. Naruto takes a wiff of the bedroll. It smells exactly the same as both the ANBU and Kakashi sensei.
Realization dawns on Naruto.
Kakashi sensei is Naruto's ANBU.
Hang on, where IS Kakashi sensei?
Naruto runs into the kitchen, where he finds only Tsunami and Inari and demands, "Where is everyone?!"
"Oh! Naruto, you're up! I thought…" Tsunami starts to say something.
Forgetting his manners, Naruto interrupts, "They left without me because I overslept, didn't they?" Without waiting for an answer, Naruto runs back to the room he is sharing with his male teammates and changes into his combat gear. Then he runs out to catch up to his team.
"Kakashi wanted you to rest today!" Tsunami calls after Naruto.
Naruto does not listen. He wants to do ninja things! "Why didn't they wake me?" Naruto whines as he leaps through the trees on his way through the forest.
Then Naruto sees something that makes him stop in his tracks. He leaps to the ground and investigates the butchered wild pigs lying in the grass. They look as if they were cut up by people. People with swords. That means something important. Naruto frowns in concentration. He looks around the clearing and sees slash marks on the trees. They cannot be seen very well from the way Naruto was coming, but turning to look back he can see the marks well. Naruto screws up his face and his brain in concentration. This all means something VERY important.
Time to figure it out the way Iruka niisan says to figure things out! What made the slash marks? Swords. Who carries swords? Ninjas. What direction are the slash marks going? Naruto is stuck.
He can almost see Iruka niisan standing in front of him tapping his foot impatiently. What would Iruka niisan do? Oh, pretend to MAKE the slash marks.
Naruto pulls out a kunai and tries to copy the slash marks. To make them properly he needs to be running towards Tazuna's house.
Violent ninjas with swords are heading towards Tazuna's house. Or maybe they are samurai.
Naruto cannot believe it took him so long to figure it out. He runs up a tree and propels himself off it with a burst of chakra, heading at top speed back to Tazuna's house.