Chapter 40

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Gtopia: You may well be right, and normally little things like this I go out of the way to make sure I get correct but as it doesn't influence the story in any way I'm going to leave it as is.

EeveeTheImmortal: Well, we weren't originally and we won't - in the Wave Arc. It was just a line I wrote to impress on the readers the strength of Kisame but I wanna write that fight now. It won't be until deep into Shippuden though, it's the only place it'll slot in but it'll get done.

Walking up Trees

"Good," she happily stated.

It took a few moments for that one word to fully process in his brain. When it did, however, Naruto's head shot up in a flash, his eyes immediately seeking out hers. Naruto had learnt how to pick up some of the more obvious signs when someone was lying, he saw none of them. "Wha?" he mumbled.

"I said, Naruto-kun. It was – good." She couldn't help but smirk at the look of confusion on his face, he didn't seem to fully understand. "Wh-wh."
"Why?" she said for him, he dumbly nodded.

"Oh, Naruto-kun," she lightly tittered, shuffling closer to him, one of her legs now in contact with his. "For all your smarts, you really are a big dummy," Kurotsuchi stated before throwing a leg over him, moving to sit in his lap, her face level with his.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as his mental faculties slowed to a crawl. She leaned in, her mouth millimetres from his right ear, "Because, you dummy. Your crush – is mutual," she whispered to him.

Judging by the dumbstruck look on his face she figured words wouldn't get through right now so with a hungry grin she leaned forward and kissed him.

Naruto subconsciously recoiled ever so slightly as his brain ground to complete stop.

A second passed, two seconds and Naruto still hadn't responded. Kurotsuchi was about to break the kiss when Naruto's motor functions were returned to him. His hands, which had previously fallen limply to his sides found live once again. They quickly gripped her hips, either side of her tailbone.

With his grip on her secured, he pulled her to him, pressing her chest flush against his own as he finally returned her kiss, and with vigour.

It would be nearly twenty seconds later that their lips would finally separate, their brains screaming for oxygen. Their foreheads dipped together, the tips of their noses lightly caressing the other as they looked deeply into each other's eyes. "Please say – that that felt as good for you as it did for me?" Naruto was able to ask after finding his voice.

She slowly nodded, a massive grin on her face. "Umm… Wanna do it again?" he hesitantly asked. "Oh yeah," she grinned before slamming her lips into his.

Now that his brain was functional again he could began processing all the sensations he was currently experiencing.

If he were to say he hadn't envisioned what kissing her might be like – then he'd be lying. And now that he was experiencing it, it was better than he could ever have imagined.

The warmth of her body against his. His hands around her waist as hers ran through his hair. The light caress of her chin-length hair against his face. This was what he was missing from his life, and he hadn't even known he was missing it to begin with.

They parted a second time. "I never knew just how much I wanted this," he admitted. "Neither did I," she replied.

"So… What now?"
"What do you mean?" she asked twisting a lock of his hair in her fingers. "Well, what I mean is. What does this mean for us?" he elaborated, his hand running up and down her spine. "What do you want it to mean?" she calmly asked, "Do you want this to just be a de-stressor or…"
"No, absolutely not. I want so much more than that." That was all she needed to hear but she let him continue.

"I guess – what I'm trying to say is. Will you be my girlfriend?" By this point her face was tucked into the crook of his neck so yet again he missed her lips widen into a huge smile. "Now you're asking the right questions," she again whispered into his ear before leaning back. "But as for an answer. I mean, I'll have to think about it…" She watched him like a hawk, she couldn't help herself, she had to take the opportunity to tease him. As soon as his head began to drop she swooped in and quickly pecked him on the lips.

"Yes," she said pulling back. "Yes?" he repeated in confusion. "Yes," she confirmed for him and his face lit up in delight. He gave her a strong hug before they went back to the snogging for a few minutes.

"See, asking me out wasn't so hard now was it?"
"For you maybe, I can't remember the last time I was so nervous."
"Oh don't complain. I said yes didn't I." The happiness on his face was so sincere, she thought it adorable.

"You did. Thank yo…"
"Naruto-kun," she interrupted him," Shut up," she smirked as they began round three.

By the time round four came to an end, Naruto had ended up on his back on the sofa, the very attractive Kurotsuchi laid out on top of him.

She sat up straight, her hands gently placed on his chest as she looked down at him, the tips of Naruto's fingers gently trailing up and down the exposed skin of her calf. His other hand was soon interlaced with one of hers.

"How long have you had this crush on me for?" she asked him. She was of the opinion that they'd wasted a lot of time skirting around one another, she wanted to get a gauge on just how much time. "Honestly, I not exactly sure, it might be that I've always had a thing for you. I do know, however, that I've always be mesmerized by your eyes."

"R-really?" she asked in a strangely nervous tone. Unbeknownst to Naruto was that when she was young she'd been on the receiving end of some nasty comments regarding her pink eyes. "Yes, I think they're beautiful," he said without hesitation, it was a comment that earned him one fierce kiss in reward.

"I don't suppose you left a shadow clone out in the village," she inquired of him after she'd finished giving him his reward. "I did, it'd be harder to claim I was here if I'm spotted in the village at the same time."
"Good. Now go put more chakra in that seal of yours because now that I've got my hands on you I'm not letting you go for a while. And we have a lot – and I mean a lot of making out to catch up on," she said enthusiastically.

"Oh no, however will I manage?" Naruto said sarcastically as he grabbed a hold of her and spun them both around so she was underneath him. "Naruto-kun, the seal.."
"I can do that in a minute," he said as he leaned down thus beginning round four.

-(*)-

The Following Morning

"Good morning, Sakura," she heard behind her, turning her head she saw Raven casually wander into the clearing, "Morning," she replied with a smile before turning her head back to Kakashi's Genin. They were currently going through their warm-up routines, a few squats, press ups, stretches and even a few pull-ups courtesy of a low-hanging branch.

"What can I do for you, Raven?" she asked as he stopped next to her. "I'm bored, Sakura. With my shadow clones out searching under every rock and behind every tree I find myself with surprisingly little to do while I wait. So I decided to see what it was you put these three through yesterday."

"Fair enough. Yesterday was just physical work. Today I intend to start them on tree-climbing."
"They haven't been introduced to tree-climbing?" he asked in disbelief, a cringe on his face. Although the mask and his neutral tone of voice hid any emotional reaction.

"Remarkable isn't it," she said irritably, shaking her head. "Fancy helping me?" The ANBU shrugged his shoulders, "As I said, I've nothing to do, so why not."
"Alright then," she said taking a few steps forward, "Ok, that's enough warming up."

When the three Genin turned their attention to her, she addressed them. "Today, I'm going to introduce you to a well-known but rudimentary chakra control exercise that you should, frankly, already know. Today, you're gonna learn tree climbing."

"Huh?" Rezano exclaimed, "But I can already climb trees." Before Sakura could even get a word in he was attempting to scuttle up a tree with his hands and feet. Sakura sighed and face-palmed while she awaited the inevitable, which came just a few seconds later as Rezano slipped and landed on his backside.

It was while the teen was feeling sorry for himself that Meshikamaru clipped him around the back of the head, "Not like that, Baka. She means tree climbing using chakra," she bluntly explained. "Then why didn't she just say that," he argued back. "I would have if you'd given me chance!" Sakura shouted, silencing him instantly.

"Now that you're paying attention again. Raven, if you'd be so kind." With a curt nod the masked Shinobi approached a nearby tree. Planting one foot on the bark, it stuck firmly as he lifted his other foot and then proceeded to walk vertically up the tree and out onto a large branch which he hung upside down from.

"That's awesome!" Rezano chirped as Raven released his grip, rotated in mid-air and landed on his feet. "It's also something you should already know as I said," Sakura reiterated.

"Did he use his chakra to 'stick' to the tree?" Meshikamaru asked having watched Raven closely. "Correct, by using your chakra you can make your grip on something near absolute, sort of like a temporary glue. The trick is using the right amount of chakra. Too much and you'll crush the bark underfoot. Too little and you'll make like Rezano and soon find yourself on the ground with your pride and skin bruised."

Sakura knew she had the girls fullest attention, but she wasn't so sure of her teammates. Rezano was focusing more on Raven whilst Sasuke was too busy staring off into the distance, looking utterly disinterested, or at least trying to.

"How do we get started?" the teenage girl eagerly asked. "It's mostly down to properly focusing your chakra. You need to manipulate it outside of your body which requires a certain level of control over your chakra. You can take your sandals off to reduce the difficulty since you don't have to push your chakra quite so far to encompass the sole of the sandal." The Nara nodded her understanding and slipped off her dark grey footwear.

Meshikamaru took a deep breath to centre herself. Manipulating her chakra outside of her body was a task familiar to her – sort of. After all, her family Jutsu involved manipulating her own shadow. But her chakra was in a sense still contained within something, her shadow in this case. But now her chakra would be outside her body entirely.

She coaxed chakra down her legs, some was lost in transit but most made it to her feet.

When she felt ready she tried lifting her foot, while she was able to do so it required far more effort than normal. 'Too little chakra?' she assumed, she wanted to use just enough chakra to hold her foot to the ground to get a feel for how much would be needed for the tree.

Her second attempt saw her use too much chakra, the grass and dirt underfoot suddenly compressed with a deep sounding thump. Lifting her foot and looking down she could see a perfect imprint of said foot. "That's actually kinda cool," she said looking at the sunken footprint. "Sakura-san, is it possible to weaponize chakra like this?" Her inherent curiosity surfacing.

"It is. There are those who already do, Tsunade-sama is perhaps the greatest example. Raven, do you by chance know any of Tsunade-sama's chakra based Taijutsu?"
"Uh, technically no, I don't. But, I do know how to utilize chakra in the same manner," he answered approaching one of the smaller trees in the clearing.

Cocking back his fist, Raven channelled a hefty amount of chakra into his fist and forearm and let fly, dispensing the chakra the moment his fist made contact with the wooden flora. The results were impressive as his fist smashed straight through, taking a chunk out of the trunk, a shower of wood shavings scattered through the air.

"Why aren't you teaching us that! Sasuke demanded to know, "Unlike walking up and down a tree it's actually useful!"
"Because you lack the chakra control to safely do so," Sakura sharply retorted. "Nonsense! My control is more than good enough."
"Well if you're sure then go ahead, the theory is actually quite simple but keep in mind that if you do it wrong you'll literally blow your hand off," Sakura coldly enlightened him. Sasuke froze when he heard 'blow your hand off'.

"You're lying."
"She's really not," Raven said weighing in. "Release the chakra at the wrong moment and you'll lose a limb. The released chakra has nowhere to go but through bone and flesh."
"Release too early and you'll lose your hand. Too late and you'll break your hand on whatever your hitting," Sakura elaborated.

Sasuke was arrogant, but even he wasn't arrogant enough to risk his hand. With a *Hmph* he looked the other way and didn't say another word.

Meanwhile Meshikamaru had shut out her black haired teammates complaints and was trying to figure a way of garnering experience of tree climbing that didn't involve her immediately falling off the tree.

"What're you thinking?" Raven asked her having noticed an expression that denoted deep thought. She briefly explained her dilemma to him, "And how do you intend to do so?" He had no intention of giving her any clues, he wanted to see her figure it out for herself.

She started by hopping on the spot, alternating between feet, slowly she increased the chakra levels until a foot refused to leave the ground. Now she knew roughly how much chakra was needed to adhere her foot to something. She approached the nearest tree placed a foot against the smooth-barked trunk, applied her chakra and kicked off the ground with her other foot.

Her foot on the tree slipped immediately.

"Hmm. That didn't work, how come?" she quietly pondered to herself. "Gravity?" she wondered but shook her head, "No, I took that into account already," she said dismissing it. "But AH!," she cried in realisation. "I never took my own bodyweight into account," she both said and asked Raven. He didn't physically react, only neutrally saying, "Then take it into account."

It passed unnoticed by her, but she by now had everyone in the clearings attention, even Sasuke had cast his eyes over in her direction. She attempted it several more times before she finally found the correct amount.

Next was getting both her feet on the tree simultaneously. She had tried already but couldn't maintain her balance while doing so. Her muscles weren't strong enough to overcome gravity's attempts to pull her body back towards the ground.

That's when the idea of running at the tree came to her. She reckoned her forward momentum would counter the pull of gravity. Backing up ten paces she gave it a go. She made it three steps because losing her concentration, her chakra control slipping. She jumped off the tree, and after a graceful backflip landed safely on her feet.

"Very nicely done, Meshikamaru," Sakura commended before handing her a kunai, "Use this to mark your progress on the bark."
"Seems you've done all the thinking for your teammates as well," Raven noted. That was then Meshikamaru noticed her teammates watching her. Sakura threw a kunai at each of their feet, "You only learn so much by watching. Get climbing," she ordered.

It took nearly the entire morning for either Sasuke or Rezano to match their teammates three steps. And by the time they broke for lunch Meshikamaru had gotten to six steps.

Following lunch they continued, Sakura occasionally provided small pieces of advice while Raven asked them a question if they asked him one, the aim of which was to subtly point them towards finding the answer themselves.

Throughout the early afternoon Rezano's frustration kept building as he still couldn't get a successful fourth step. After his latest failed attempt his frustration got the better of him, "Damn it!" he shouted, "Why won't it work?!"
"Calm down," Raven bluntly said, which only served to annoy Rezano further. "Why? How is calming down going to help me?!"

That's when Meshikamaru smacked him around the head with her hand – again, "He's just told you how, calm down! Emotion inhibits your ability to control your chakra in a consistent manner, Baka."

Knowing better than to argue with his Genin counterpart he did as she'd said. Sitting on the ground he assumed a position his brother Naruto had taught him that worked to help him find mental peace. A few silent minutes later he stood again, focused himself and ran at his tree, kunai in hand. He immediately made the fourth step and a fifth before his concentration lapsed.

He looked around rather awkwardly after landing back on the ground, everyone else stared back. "Huh, guess it does work," he said sheepishly.

By the time they called it quits for the day, Sasuke and Rezano had managed to reach a half dozen steps each while Meshikamaru, with her sandals put back on, had almost reached the top of the tree. The young Nara was enthusiastically chatting with Raven as they returned to the house.

"I know you've not finished the tree climbing exercise but you clearly understand it fully so I want to move you onto the second stage of this exercise tomorrow. I expect you to master tree climbing in your own time."
"Second stage?"
"Correct, tree climbing is the first of three stages for bettering your chakra control. The second is water-walking with the third being a more advanced version of that called water-skidding or water-skiing.

"Overall the three exercises teach you various ways of manipulating your chakra first consciously with the aim of eventually achieving it sub-consciously. Holding chakra outside your body, modulating your chakra output and finally shaping your chakra are the aims respectively."

Their conversation continued until they reached the house. A recovering Kakashi and Kusuri had spent the day accompanying Tazuna to and from the bridge. Raven didn't stay in the household however, he decided instead to eat outside as eating required removing his mask – Sakura chose to join him.

They settled at a large wide-trunked tree overlooking the calm coastal waters of the eastern ocean. They chose to sit between two large smooth exposed tree roots which made for a comfortable yet cosy fit for them both.

"Kami, I'm glad to get this off for a while," Tri said in relief as he removed his black raven mask. Sakura looked at the mask in his hand curiously, "Could I take a look at your mask?" she politely asked.

"Sure," he replied handing it to her, "It won't fit very well if you try it on, they're custom made to fit the face of a specific ANBU."

She held it up to her face and sure enough it didn't fit very well. "It's lighter than I thought it would be," she noted, "And it actually is made from porcelain," she added in mild surprise. Tri raised an eyebrow at her, "What did you think they were made from?"
"Well I thought it would be made of metal or wood."
"Years ago they were, but metal is too heavy and wood is prone to warping which led to the need to constantly replace them. So they changed them all to porcelain."

She poked the inner lining to find it completely dry, "Does the inside not get sweaty or really warm?"
"Surprisingly and thankfully no, over the years they've found a few neat tricks for transferring heat from the inside."
"How does it stay on your face?"
"The same way the Genin stayed on the trees, chakra. You can't see it but there's a Fūinjutsu design placed on the inner lining. Just putting the mask on triggers the seal, it draws a tiny amount of chakra from the wearer and with it keeps the mask attached to the face."

"I see. I take it the eye slits are covered because of your unique eye colours?"
"Yes. They used some fancy material that only allow certain colours through in one direction, so I can get the full-colour spectrum but you only see black on the other side."
"You are rather unique – visually, I mean" she acknowledged, "Your hair and Fūinjutsu covered arms are easily recognisable as you."
"Thus why I use a Genjutsu to hide both."

She returned his mask to him and picked up the food she'd brought with her. While not bad food by any stretch, it was rather bland fare. "What I'd do for some Sushi right now," she bemoaned after a few bites. With a wry smile on his face, Tri upturned one of his hands, in which a folded napkin appeared. He extended his hand out to her, she unfolded the napkin and within were half a dozen pieces of simple Sushi.

"How did you… When?"
"I normally work alone when on ANBU missions so I bring food with me, I plan ahead too. I must have like two months of food on me right now."
"Wait, how long have you had this Sushi on you?" He shrugged his shoulders, "Two, three months maybe."
"And it doesn't spoil?"
"Nope, we did some testing on it, inside storage seals there is no concept of time. I watched this Sushi get made months ago yet because it's been in the seal, it's not even five minutes old."

Not entirely believing him her first bite was a tentative one. But her caution was unwarranted, it tasted fresh, just as he said it would. "Sakura-chan, slow down, I'm not going to take them off you," he laughed as they rapidly began vanishing. "Shhuut uup," she whined as she chewed the final piece.

After returning to and finishing the food she'd brought with her she leaned back, her shoulder blade leaning against the front of his shoulder. "Still hungry?" he asked seeing the slight look of dissatisfaction on her face. Turning her head to look at him she sheepishly nodded. Another withdrawal and a few minutes later her stomach was finally sated.

"I suppose you'll want a nap now too."
"Well you do make for a comfy pillow," she joked.

"It's gonna be kinda difficult to nap when I'm cold though," she said as another sharp breeze blew over them. "You are cold," he observed in astonishment as she briefly shivered next to him. "What, you aren't?" she replied, he shook his head which miffed her, "Lucky," she muttered.

"Well I think I can help with that," he said wrapping his arms around her waist locking his hands together over her abdomen. Pulling on his chakra, he moulded a small amount into Katon and Fūton and then combined them into Shakuton. He circulated the potent chakra around his chakra network.

A few seconds later she noticed. "Wow, wait, what did you do?" she asked in shock, she'd felt the temperature in his arms suddenly increase.

"I'm letting a small amount of Shakuton circulate around my body," he answered. The medic in her dictated her response, "Wait, I've seen your Shakuton Jutsu, it's stupidly unstable and you're letting it modify your internal body temperature!?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I do keep it away from my head and internal organs though. By heating only my arms and legs my body no longer needs to circulate warm blood to my extremities. I haven't felt cold in years."

"Why not use Katon? It's far safer, surely?"
"Technically, yes. But I'd have to use far more to get the same heat increase. Besides it's a good chakra control exercise, I can do it subconsciously now." She was quiet as she thought, "Do you mind if I tell Tsunade-sama about this. I think it's something that requires further investigation."
"Sure, guess you'll be needing me as a Guinea pig as well?"
"Yeah, probably," she snorted as another breeze reached them, again she shivered a little.

Seeking to rectify that he next withdrew a thick woolly blanket which he threw over them both. "Oh for Kami's sake. Is there anything you don't have in those seals of yours?" she asked as it was quickly tucked under limbs.

"Well, if I don't, it's because I've not had a need for it yet."
"A sound strategy. And I'm glad for it, it's turned my evening into a rather pleasant one. Turns out you're a menu, a waiter, a pillow and a hot water bottle," she joked before closing her eyes.

He looked off out across the endless waves as the last glimmers of light faded beyond the horizon when Sakura shuffled around for a few seconds. It ended with her on her side leaning into him, his right arm around her shoulders, his left still around her waist.

'I wonder if there's anything out there across the water? Or does the ocean loop back around the entire world to the far west of the continent?'

Within ten minutes he could hear slow, shallow breathing from the young woman next to him. 'Well, that didn't take you long,' he thought in amusement. He was rather surprised she didn't react when he'd put his arms around her. He was expecting her to stiffen or flinch a little but nothing. 'Means I get to sleep against a tree with a pretty view and a pretty girl,' he chuckled.

A few minutes later he fell asleep as well, his head dropping to rest on hers.

It meant neither of them saw or heard Rezano storm out of the house and run off into the woods in an almighty mood a short while later.

-(*)-

Back in Konoha

Kurotsuchi shoved Naruto against the edge of the bed, he didn't fall back so she pushed him a second time, still he didn't go down. So she jumped at him, that did the job as they both collapsed on the bed in a heap of limbs and fits of giggles. She'd at least been kind enough to make sure his head landed on a pillow.

"Gah, calm down woman. Wasn't three hours of making out enough for you last night?"
"Nope," she said with a smile of smug satisfaction before softly nipping his earlobe with her teeth.. "Why, bored of me already, Naruto-kun?"
"Not a chance," he beamed as she rested her chin on his chest.

As previously mentioned, it was three hours before she'd let him leave last night, it had taken another hour of walked around the village before he thought himself able to go home. His family would have questioned why he had such an absurdly large grin on his face.

Plus she'd only released him on the promise that he returned tonight.

"What was up with your father today. He seemed… Distracted – I guess? He certainly wasn't all there."
"Yeah I noticed too. From what I could gather, since when I asked he was sorta evasive, was that it's something to do with Itachi. I asked someone I know from ANBU afterwards, apparently he's several days overdue but I don't know what or where his mission is because it's been classified."
"How long's he been gone?"
"Several weeks by my count. But Tou-san's nervous, and that's rare. So this mission, whatever it is, must be damn important."
"Has Itachi ever been known to miss a deadline?" Naruto shook his head, "No, not like this. He'd only be delayed for good reason."
"I'm sure he'll turn up before long," she said reassuringly as she wriggled a little further up the bed. "I hope so," he sighed, kissing her on the forehead.

-(*)-

Somewhere far to the north, outside of Hi no Kuni

"Weasel," Owl hissed sharply in alarm. "Why the fuck are we still here, we're risking the entire mission by overstaying our welcome. We're already days overdue."

The other three members of Team Ro had been growing increasingly anxious. They'd been tasked with searching and surveying Ta no Kuni (Land of Rice Paddies) for Konoha's most wanted missing-nin. Recent intelligence reports from Jiraiya's network had picked up a trail that led north to Ta no Kuni. So here Team Ro were.

Despite only being here a few weeks they'd found several substantial underground installations with tunnel networks that for some stretched for kilometres. Some were abandoned and looked like they had been for some time. Others, however, were not.

It was in and around the busiest complex they'd come across that Team Ro had spent the past ten days. Watching the comings and goings, there were a rather large number of people arriving and departing from the underground complex, many of whom they could recognise as Shinobi or had at least received Shinobi training.

They'd not entered the facility, they'd all agreed it was too risky.

Itachi, also, was not oblivious to his Team's growing sense of anxiety. Reconnaissance missions were always tense affairs, it's why Konoha ANBU had specialist teams for such missions, Team RO wasn't one of them, yet the Yondaime had felt the need to entrust his personal squad with the mission. The risk of capture or death was high and the longer they stayed, the greater their chance of being discovered was.

"Alright Owl, you're right. We're pushing our luck now. Pack it up, we're leaving," Weasel instructed his team. Despite the masks they wore, the relief was evidently palpable.

Within minutes there was no evidence of their prior presence as they departed south as fast as they dared, eager to get the hell out of Ta no Kuni.

End Chapter