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Regular speech: "Wryyyyyy."
Thoughts: 'Wryyyyyy.'
Summon's, higher beings regular speech: "Wryyyyyy."
Summon's, higher beings thoughts: 'Wryyyyyy.'
Locations: Somewhere in the deep ocean…
Techniques: Kawarimi!
'Document, quotation'.
Italics can be used for certain kinds of emphasis or snide comments.
Bold can be used for forceful yelling/shouting/screaming.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or JJBA.

Chapter VI

Training day in day out — that's how can one describe the Team 7's week after meeting Zabuza and Heizu. Kakashi was certain that they would meet the nukenin of the Mist once again soon, and so he tasked his genin to learn the tree climbing and water walking exercises. Sakura, having the superior chakra control among the three, was tasked with protecting Tazuna at the bridge, while her teammates were dragging their daily routine into the night.

While Sasuke was smart enough to retire for the night, Naruto was determined to train while he could, to become better than his teammate, and it is the reason he overtrained and now slept in the woods, causing unnecessary stress for the rest of the team, which is why Sasuke was now looking for the blond where they last trained. And sure enough, there he was sitting on the grass by the pond, made by Kakashi, who thought that the ocean's waters were too deep and too vast for his genin to train on. But what the raven-haired Uchiha didn't expect, is to see a woman talking with his teammate. She was clad in a pink sleeveless kimono, with a basket full of herbs in her hand. Walking by her gave him a strange feeling, as if he met her somewhere.

But either way, he had to knock some sense into the blond.

"Well, it does be like that sometimes..." the blonde muttered with a furrowed brow, until he was interrupted by a hit on the head. "Ow! What's that for?!"

"Come on, idiot, you missed breakfast," his comrade said with a face of indifference.

"Well, now that everyone had eaten, let's see where we at," Kakashi was examining the progress of two boys.

The said genin then stepped onto the pond, as if it was any other solid surface, walking around with ease. Occasionally Naruto would wobble, but he still managed to resist falling.

"Hmm, I see. You two had done a great work," jonin was surprised that it took them only a week to learn how to successfully stick to any surface with nothing but their feet.

"I'm very proud of both of you. Now, Sasuke, take this scroll and learn its contents, and while you're at it, guard Tazuna with Sakura, " Kakashi thrown a small-sized scroll to the Uchiha. "Naruto, you'll come with me."

Walking further into the woods, the blonde couldn't bear the silence.

"Kakashi-sensei, what jutsu did you give Sasuke to learn? Am I going to learn it too?" Naruto tried to suppress his envy.

"What I gave him, is the scroll on the Sharingan," his mentor began explaining. "He will soon unlock his doujutsu, and I need him to be ready for it, and this is why he will have a different training than you."

Coming into a secluded clearing, Kakashi arranged a little shooting range: three straw dummies, that he got from his scroll, and a couple of logs swinging from the trees as a moving targets.

"With your ability in mind, the key skill for you to refine now is your marksmanship. With that said, I want you to practice to the point when you can throw 10 kunai at the same time, hitting head and heart on the dummies and the bull's-eye on the logs," he then pulled out his own set of kunai.

"But sensei, this is impossible, how can I hit all of them wi…" before Naruto could finish his sentence, Kakashi suddenly thrown the kunai in his hands, hitting all of the targets perfectly, and in less than a second he thrown another set, hitting the previously launched kunai in the rings.

"Sort of like this," he said with an eye smile.

Needless to say, the performance stunned Naruto. Not even Sasuke, who was a natural, couldn't match the precision of a former Anbu captain. Scratch that, never in his life has he seen such a thing!

"And after you'll be done here, we'll talk about your The World. Now, get to work," said his mentor, pulling out an all-familiar book and getting comfortable under the tree.

'Good grief,' he thought. 'I'll have to spend the entire day doing this damn exercise…'

Somewhere in the Wave…

Zabuza laid in bed, recovering from his injuries with Haku watching over him.

He admitted his mistake of letting Heizu handle the brats, but one thing he couldn't understand, is how was Heizu killed. He saw the body that Haku recovered. He should've known that the kid would rush in like a fool he was, but he didn't expect him to get almost killed by a C-rank jutsu. Not only that, how he died was perplexing to the nukenin. Just when the teen was about to end the Uchiha brat, he caught a kunai in his temple. Without a second passing, like with a fingers' snap — he was dead.

'Haku said that the weapon came from the other brat, but I know that Kakashi had something to do with this,' he pondered. 'Just after Heizu was killed, I noticed a huge drop in his chakra levels, as if after an A or B-rank technique.'

His train of thought was abruptly stopped with Gato and his personal guards entering the room.

"After that kind of performance you scurry off here? You, Mist shinobi, are pathetic," the small man said with spite. "How can you call yourself Demon, when even little children manage to beat you? And that lousy brat. Not worth a yen, after getting killed like common fodder."

Haku suddenly stood from stool, not looking to be in the best of his moods, which alerted Gato's guards.

"Wait," he commanded them, approaching Zabuza's bed. "Hey, I'm talking to you…"

Reaching out his arm was a mistake, as proved by Haku gripping the man's hand so hard, he almost broke it. At that the guards tried to draw their katanas, but Zabuza's protégé managed to pull their swords to their own necks, all in a matter of seconds.

After showing off his battle prowess, Haku threw the weapons on the ground, returning to Zabuza's side.

"Don't bother coming back if you lose again!" Gato tried to save face. "Let's go," with that, the intruders left the shinobi alone.

"I've had enough of that weasel," Zabuza shifted in his bed. "About time we end our agreement with him. Tomorrow we'll make our move."

Hours and hours of gruelling training didn't seem to do anything else other than earning additional calluses. Although he did improve on his throwing, Naruto couldn't reach the bar that Kakashi set, the latter still reading. It seemed as if the book was just a diversion, because he didn't turn the page for a long time.

"That's enough Naruto," the jonin said suddenly. "Now, for the final act, use your ability and deal as much damage as you can to this tree over here."

"How's that supposed to help my accuracy? I don't see much sense in doing that," Naruto argued.

"Just do the thing and I'll tell you what's the point. And yes — no clones, do it by yourself," Kakashi answered.

"Good grief, this better be worth the chakra I'm going to spend…" the boy mutter under his breath.

With Kakashi retreating to a safe distance, Naruto was ready to start. He never went all-out with The World before, only managing to throw one kunai. But now, with his current limit at 4 seconds of movement in the stopped time, he was ready to have some fun with his ability.

"Once more, Za Warudo!" with that the time has stopped.

Drawing his kunai, he began to throw them, circling the tree so all projectiles could find its mark. After emptying his bag, he resorted to chakra-enhanced punches. At first, he subconsciously protected his fists with chakra when training earlier, but when Kakashi explained to him what chakra is used for, Naruto began to realise just how easily utilised can it be.

"Enlacing your limbs with chakra makes them go 200%, although it is taxing. But for you, I think, It's not much of a problem. Be careful as to not waste all your chakra in battle though," Kakashi cautioned the blonde then.

"Two seconds left. Time to finish this," focusing his chakra in his arms, he began his advance.

"Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! MUDA!" the strengthened punches rattled the wood.

Stepping away from the tree, he take a last look at the stillness of the moment.

"And time shall move again," just as the boy said that, everything went back to normal, his kunai embedded themselves in the tree trunk, that was heavily deformed under the force of Naruto's barrage.

"Hmm, not bad for a genin such as yourself. I take it that you used enhanced punches?" after getting a nod from the boy he smirked under his mask. "A straight-forward approach, not bad, but you're still lacking in power, I've known a woman whose flick would reduce that tree to splinters."

At that Naruto laughed, but seeing the grim face of Kakashi's, he realised that the man was dead serious. The sole notion of such a powerful kunoichi made him mirror his sensei's emotionless gaze.

'I hope I never get to meet her…' the boy thought to himself.

Jonin then coughed in his fist, drawing the blonde out of his thoughts.

"Well, from what I've gathered, your kekkei genkai is obviously very powerful, I dare say it is the most powerful I've ever seen," Kakashi stated.

The sensei's assessment made Naruto very cheerful, the genin's grin displaying blindingly white teeth. However, the silver-haired jonin interrupted him.

"Nevertheless, it is very dangerous for you to use now," his tone was very serious, almost cold. "As you know, your ability exacts a heavy toll for your body, without proper training you can only use it as a last resort."

The hard truths saddened him a bit, but he listened to the man all the same. Although he liked his new ability, it never hurts to know its limits.

"Fortunately, I know just the right kind of training that you need to go through. But we'll talk about that back in the Leaf, okay?" getting a nod from the blonde, Kakashi wrapped up the training, the pair coming back to the house.

The next day…

As soon as Sasuke woke up, he knew that today they will fight once more. The air felt colder, and the group didn't talk much, all sensing the tension. Even Naruto, who usually can't sit still for a moment, was unusually calm.

After having breakfast, the team and Tazuna headed to the bridge. Nearing the construction site, they noticed that the mist started to thicken, and Kakashi silently had his genin form a protective formation.

"Zabuza, come out, I know you're there," Kakashi shouted into the nothingness, lifting the headband from his left eye simultaneously.

And, as if on cue, the Demon of the Mist appeared, which made the genin draw their kunai.

"You're sharp as ever, Kakashi of the Sharingan, although you don't need a wacky eye to know I was here," Zabuza said with a grin. "Although I'd love to have a rematch with you, we aren't here to fight. We're here to make a deal."
= = = To be continued... = = =

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound and
In and out the valley...